Finding Magic
by Fantasyfictionwriter
Summary: It has been 8 years since Rachel Evans was last seen, and in that time a lot has changed for our favourite characters, yet the thought of their missing Marauder, has never been far from anyone's mind. When Albus arrives with the newest teacher for the new term, the group gets the shock of their lives, but just who is Jenny Matthews, and does she have any connection to Rachel?
1. Chapter 1

**So hi everyone. I promised you all a sequel and here it is. I hope that you will enjoy my new story 'Finding Magic' as much as you enjoyed 'Sister's of Magic'. For those of you who are new to my stories, I would recommended reading 'Sister's Of Magic' first otherwise some of this story won't make any sense. But for those of you returning to my work, then hi and welcome back. I already have the first few chapters of this story written so hopefully that might make posting new chapters a bit quicker, we shall see. :)**

Chapter 1

Jenny Matthews awoke to a sunny summer morning. She stretched her arms and smiled to herself. Her dog Lola awoke from her position on the end of Jenny's bed and as the dog opened her eyes she found herself looking at Jenny. Lola barked a 'good morning' to her mistress.

"Good morning to you to Lola." Jenny pulled her white duvet off of her body and swung her legs out of her bed and into her awaiting slippers. Jenny felt the soft and warm material of her silk nightdress wrapping itself around her now awake body. Although she wasn't a fan of dresses or skirts Jenny did wear quite a few nightdresses as she found them surprisingly comfortable. Stroking her dog on the top of her head Jenny gazed around her room. Jenny lived in a small converted farm house in a quiet village in the Cotswolds in England. She loved the small placed she called home and couldn't see her life outside of the village. In fact the village she lived in was all she knew. Smiling Jenny caught sight of the picture she had standing on her dresser table. It was of her with her family, brothers Jake and Oscar and her only slightly older sister April, and her mother and father Susan and Nick Matthews. Jenny raised her eyes from the picture to see the early morning sunrise.

"Come on Lola." Jenny pushed herself off the bed and slipped into her dressing gown and headed out of her bedroom and down the stairs to her living room. She sighed as she spotted the huge pile of marking she had piled on her kitchen table. Although Jenny loved her job as a teacher at the local primary school, she knew that her summer had far from begun. Once all of her marking and lesson plans were done then she could start enjoying her summer. Jenny had just reached her kitchen and was about to make herself a coffee when she remembered she had no coffee left in the house.

"Damn." She muttered to herself. She turned her head to see that Lola had followed her down the stairs and into the kitchen. She smiled at the dog as an idea came to mind. Glancing at the clock she noticed that she would have time to go for a run before calling in at her favourite coffee shop for her morning coffee.

"Lola stay." She commanded as she raced back to her room to change into a pair of track suit trousers and a vest top. She grabbed her iPod from her speaker where it had been charging and as she placed it in the holder she had to wear on her arm when running, she picked up her water bottle and raced back to the kitchen. Quickly filling up her bottle, she tied her hair up in a ponytail and grabbed Lola's lead from its place by the door.

"Lola run!" She called as the small Labrador came bounding out of the kitchen eager to go running with her mistress. Jenny slipped the lead onto the dog and after grabbing her keys, mobile and purse which she placed into her small backpack which she kept by the door; she opened the front door allowing the cool morning air to enter the house. Quickly closing the door behind her and locking it, she slipped the handle of Lola's lead around her wrist, pressed play on her iPod and began her run.

After about an hour and a half of running Jenny finally came to a stop outside Mamma Joan's tea shop. The lady who ran the shop, funnily enough her name was Joan, was used the strange hours that the people in the village lived by and was often open rather early in the morning. As she pulled out her earphones and pressed the pause button on her iPod, Jenny pushed open the door to the shop and stepped inside. She was greeted by the all too familiar smell of fresh baking and ground coffee beans. She spotted Joan behind the counter in front and noticed that the shop was practically empty apart from Mr McDonald who sat in his usual seat in the corner of the shop. Jenny waved at him as she walked to the counter Lola trotting at her heels. Joan's daughter had been the one who had given Jenny Lola so the dog was more than welcome in the shop.

"Morning Joan."

"Morning Jenny dear and how's my favourite customer this fine morning."

"We're fine thank you aren't we Lola." Lola barked. Joan smiled and came around the counter to pat Lola on the head and hug the girl who was like her honorary grand daughter.

Jenny was well liked in the village. She was thought of by all as an extended daughter or sister, after her appearance in the local park 8 years ago. Jenny herself was known throughout the village as 'mystery girl', and when tourists arrived in the village they all left knowing the story about the 'mystery girl'. Jenny didn't mind what she was called.

"Usual sweetheart?"

"Please Joan and some water for Lola please." Joan smiled and pulled out a small bowl which she filled with water for Lola.

"Take a seat and I'll shout when it's done." She said passing Jenny the bowl. Jenny nodded and took a seat as near to the counter as she could get so that Joan wouldn't have to travel far. At 70 Joan wasn't exactly known for her speed. In fact some of the villagers thought it was about time Joan passed the cafe on to her daughter, Sally.

Jenny placed the bowl on the floor and Lola began to lap it up quickly. A minute later Jenny heard her name and walked to the counter to get her coffee from Joan. Joan watched Jenny as she sat back down with her coffee, and as Lola curled up at her feet. At 26 Jenny had become a very beautiful woman, far different from the bruised and battered 18 year old Susan and Nick had found in the park 8 years ago. Joan could remember the whole thing as if it was yesterday.

_Flashback_

_Just as Joan was about to close the cafe one wild and stormy night there came a pounding at her door and she was shocked to see the entire Matthews family plus a young girl standing outside the shop. _

_"Please Joan let us in." Of course Joan opened the doors immediately and let the family came inside. They were all wet, but the girl with them was soaked through to her skin. Her incredibly long midnight black hair was stuck to her face and body, whilst her bright blue eyes looked scared and cold; she had a cut on her forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt which looked like it had been inflicted on her recently. Her skin was so white and cold she looked like she was a covered in snow._

_"What's all this about? You should all be at home in the warm." Joan scolded them as a clap of thunder filled the sky. _

_"We just went for a walk Joan," Oscar said. _

_"When it started to rain and we had to run all the way here." Jake finished. _

_"And who's this?" Joan asked pointing to the young girl they had with them. _

_"We found her in the park." April told her. _

_Joan looked shocked; she turned to Nick for confirmation. _

_"It's true. She had been hidden by some bushes. Poor thing was so cold it was like touching an icicle." Joan then noticed that the girl was wrapped up in what appeared to be Nick's coat. Susan then took over from her husband. _

_"We're sorry Joan we know you're closed, but we thought if she didn't get somewhere warm quick she'd freeze to death. It's been so cold lately." Joan had to agree, it was unusually cold for the beginning of the summer, and all the signs of a very bitter cold winter were approaching. _

_"Well let me get you all something to drink or you'll all freeze to death." _

_Soon enough Joan had bought out popping hot cups of tea and coffee for the family, along with a few left over treats from the days baking. The family tucked in but Joan couldn't help stare at the young woman who just sat on a chair pulling Nick's coat further around herself. _

_"So what were you doing out in the storm sweetheart?" Joan asked. The girl stayed silent. _

_"She hasn't said a word since we found her." Nick said sadly. _

_"Not a word?" The family shook their heads. Joan looked shocked, before turning back to the girl. _

_"What about your name darling? I bet you have a very pretty name. What about where your from?" The girl moved her lips but nobody heard a word she spoke. _

_"What was that sweetie?" Susan asked placing her coffee on the table. _

_"Castle." Came the almost silent whisper. "I need to get back to the castle." _

_"What castle?" Jake asked. _

_The girl was quiet. "I don't know." _

_"Well what about your name, everyone has a name." Oscar moaned. _

_"Oscar!" His mother scolded him. _

_"I don't know." The girl said breaking the silence. _

_"What?" April asked. _

_"I don't know my name." The girl said her eyes brimming with tears. "I don't know anything about myself!" She placed her arms on the table and once she had placed her head on the arms, sobbed uncontrollably. Susan took the girl and hugged her close as the girl sobbed into Susan's body. _

_"You don't remember anything?" Joan asked. The girl shook her head, her tear stained face was red and blotchy. _

_"What about if we throw some names at you and you see if any of them sound familiar?" The girl nodded. _

_"Summer?" April began, the girl shook her head. _

_"Laura?" She shook her head again. _

_"Molly?"_

_"Holly?" The boys said before high fiving each other. The girl laughed but still shook her head. _

_"Jodie?" Nick asked, and was met with another shake. _

_"Lily?" Joan piped in. The girl paused for a moment. _

_"Does Lily sound familiar?" April asked. The girl paused again before shaking her head. _

_"I'm sorry, but I really can't remember anything." _

_"You have nothing to be sorry about darling." Joan said patting the girl's hand. _

_"How about this, we'll give it a few days till your on the mend, and then we will go to the police and see if anyone has reported you missing?" Susan asked. _

_"Until then you can stay with us." Nick added. _

_"Really?" The girl asked. The family nodded. _

_"I always wanted a sister!" April squealed giving the girl a huge hug. _

_"Until then though you'll need a name that we can call you." Joan said. "Why don't you pick something?" _

_"I don't know what to chose." The girl said. "What would you pick?" She asked Nick and Susan. _

_"Well it's really down to you darling." Nick said. _

_"What about Jennifer?" Susan offered. _

_"I had an aunt called Jennifer." Joan said. "Lovely lady." _

_"Then Jennifer it is, but would it be ok to call me Jenny?" The girl asked. _

_True to their word 3 days later the family walked to the local police station with the intention of reuniting Jenny with her family, however nobody matching Jenny's description had been reported missing in the area. Jenny was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to find out who she really was, and was also scared that the Matthews would stick her into a care home to be rid of her. But the Matthews surprised her by not only taking her to the doctor for a full check up, and in discovering that Jenny was possibly around 18 - 19 years of age, they were allowed to formally adopt Jenny as their own daughter, and so she became Jenny Matthews officially, and had been to this day. _

_Through the influence of the Matthews family Jenny had been able to get a job helping the teacher of the local primary school twice a week, and when she showed potential to be a teacher, the whole village had pitched in to help Jenny pay to complete her teacher's degree at university. Once Jenny had completed the degree the school had snapped her up, and she had been there ever since. _

_End of flashback_

Joan was interrupted from her daydream by Jenny herself.

"Joan, are you alright?"

"Oh I'm fine dear, just daydreaming." Jenny smiled at her honorary grandmother.

"I was just going say bye. I need to get home, I've got a tonne of marking to do, and I'll pop by later if that's ok?" Jenny asked.

"Of course my dear, I'll have a pot of tea waiting for you." Lola barked. "And a bowl of water for you too Lola." Joan chuckled.

Smiling Jenny waved goodbye and left the cafe heading home. Joan smiled at Jenny's retreating form. Jenny may not have know who she really was, but this girl was always going to have a place in the village as Jenny Matthews. Now and forever.

**And so ends the first chapter. As I said at the beginning if you haven't read 'Sister's Of Magic' this story might not make sense, but if anyone has any questions then please feel free to leave me a review, or to send me a private message, I will be more than happy to answer your questions. **

**So as always please read and review (I have lost track of how many times I have written that :) and I will be posting another chapter soon. **

**Enjoy, Beth xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**And here is chapter 2. Sorry it's been a while, but I'm sure we all know how busy life can get, sadly. :( **

Chapter 2

Severus awoke to find his room was pitch black. The room was silent; all he could hear was the quiet noise of his own breathing. Turning his head he wordlessly uttered a spell and the room was engulfed in a low and cold light. He sat up in his bed and glanced around the room. It was just the same as when he had drifted off into an uneasy sleep. His long and black cloak hung from the doors of his wardrobe, his black leather shoes sat on the floor by said wardrobe, patiently waiting to be used, his wand was place in his wand holster which he was around his wrist at all times. A protective spell lay on both the wand and the holster, so they would never break. After what happened to Rachel, the group had taken every protective method to make sure that they would stay safe in their continued search for their missing friend. Severus felt his heart tug and the thought of her name. It had been 8 years since she had gone missing, and each day felt like a continuous struggle. She was the first thought of the day, the last thought at night, and continuously wandering through his thoughts during the day. Severus had almost missed his final exam because of his continued search for her. But thankfully he had managed to pass the exam, even thought all he could think of was Rachel.

A lot had changed in the last 8 years. The group had not only graduated from Hogwarts but also from their respective training. Maddy and Lily had both completed their Healer qualifications and had both been placed at St Mungo's for their training. Both occasionally helped there if they were needed but now worked with Madam Pomfrey in the Hogwarts hospital wing. Frank and Tonks completed their Auror training and although Tonks had been a year behind, and somewhat of a bit clumsy, she and Frank often worked together during their missions. Sirius had gained his reputation as a hit wizard, working with the Aurors when they needed his skills and occasionally working with Frank and Tonks on specially selected missions. James had had a short lived but successful career as the Chaser and Captain for three seasons for the British Quidditch team, but had to retire after being hit rather hard by a low flying Bludger. Alice had gained her degree in Herbology very quickly, and upon learning that Professor Sprout was looking for a teacher to join her and help take some of the pressure of her as the only Herbology teacher, Alice applied for the position, and was quickly snapped up. Remus gained his degree in Astronomy, a rather ironic joke between the group, and he now worked with Professor Sinistra at Hogwarts. Severus had gained his potion masters degree whilst gaining his teaching degree, and after being approached by many successful apothecaries, he chose to return to Hogwarts after Slughorn retired.

Career prospects however weren't the only changes over the 8 year period. After deciding that life was too short and it should not be wasted, Alice and Frank had married after they had finished their first years training, with Tonks and Remus following 18 months later. Maddy and Sirius married after they both graduated. James and Lily had been engaged since the summer of their first years, but it took until nearly 6 months after they graduated for them to tie the knot. Lily had stated she couldn't marry until she had her sister back with her, but after a long talk with her mother, she announced that Rachel would want her to be happy, and by marrying James she would be happier than she had been in a long time. Petunia and Vernon also married, and we're now parents to 4 year old Dudley. Alice and Frank announced not long after Petunia and Vernon, that they too were having a baby, and eventually had a baby boy named Neville. James and Lily also had a baby boy around the same time, naming him Harry James, after his father, and were also parents to 18 month old Ava Rachel, after her auntie. It took Tonks and Remus a while to settle down, after Remus feared he would pass on his werewolf genes to any children they may have, but luckily 2 year old Teddy Lupin, was born with out inheriting his fathers illness, however he did inherit his mothers 'skills'. Not wanting to be left out of all the groups fun, Sirius and Maddy were parents to 3 year old twins Sarah and Hannah, who were identical in every way.

The children had grown up hearing many stories of their brave and courageous Auntie Rachel, and although they had seen pictures of her, each dreamed of one day meeting the woman they all looked up to. Severus meanwhile had stayed alone for the 8 years, never once seeing any other witch. He waited and waited for Rachel to return, and knew that he would never be able to look at anyone the way he looked at Rachel. He loved his honorary nieces and nephews with all his heart, (even though many of his students doubted he had a heart, at least one that wasn't cold and black) but he couldn't help but feel jealous at the thought of what he and Rachel may have had. Glancing to the table placed by his bed, he smiled at the picture of Rachel smiling and laughing at something he had said. She looked so carefree in the photo that Severus had had another copy made, which he kept in a secret compartment of his cloak, so he could keep her close to him at all times.

It was a quiet day in which Severus spent most of his time going through his store cupboard arranging and noting down items he was low on for the new term. The other Marauders were away on their holidays visiting family, and although they had begged him to come with them, as no matter where they went they were all treated like sons and daughters to all their respective parents; he politely declined the invitations, and stayed at the castle, alone. Some of the other teachers were still their, those who didn't have families to return to, even Albus and Minerva had stayed for a bit, before Albus decided to take a short break, and somehow managed to convince Minerva to go with him.

Severus was just about to call it a day, when he heard a noise in his classroom. He pulled his wand from the holster, but quickly pocked it again when he heard a voice call out, "Uncle Severus?" He left the store room to find his classroom was now filled with his nieces and nephews. Sarah spotted him first and rushed to him holding out her arms for a hug. Severus bent down to kneel on the floor, and the girl rushed into his open arms, followed quickly by her sister. Both girls took after their mother, with chestnut brown locks and brown eyes, however their personalities showed they were Sirius's children. Teddy's hair turned bright blue, a parody of his mothers pink hair, when he spotted his uncle and he too rushed for a hug, falling over twice, proving he had inherited his mother's clumsiness. Harry held his sister in both his arms; he too smiled when he saw Severus but hung back so that his sister didn't get squished in the mound of children. Neville also hung back. Since he and Harry were close in age they had become fast friends, and often played together when their parents were working. Ava just squealed. When she had first met Severus, he had scared her, with his long black clothes and his tendency to yell at his students, but since then her fondness for the man her mother considered to be a brother, had grown and grown and now there was nothing more the little girl liked than a big snuggle with her favourite uncle.

"Uncle Severus we missed you." Sarah and Hannah said in complete unison. With Teddy tapping a "missed you" onto the end.

"Grandma and Grandpa asked where you were." Harry told him. Ava just giggled.

"Mummy and Daddy said that they would bring you next time." Neville said quietly. Severus smiled. Although he was a private man, he loved it when his family came to visit.

His mother Eileen still lived in the house they had moved to after she left Tobias. Severus was sure he heard somewhere that Tobias had died in an accident, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. Tonks had also lost her father to cancer, but the rest of the children's grandparents were still going strong, including the formidable Augusta Longbottom.

"Did you miss us, Uncle Severus?" Hannah asked.

"Of course I missed you." Severus said hugging the girls again.

"We bought you a present from holiday." Sarah said, grabbing her uncle's arm and pulling him up. "But mummy and daddy said you have to come and get it yourself, so they could say hello too.' Severus laughed.

"We'll then, we had better go hadn't we?" He stood up, and grabbing his ingredients list to bring with him, positive Alice had some of the ingredients somewhere in the greenhouses.

The children ran along ahead as Severus followed them back to their parent's quarters. He had taken Ava from Harry's struggling arms and the little girl was very happy to be in the arms of her favourite uncle. Since he had taken over the job as the head of Slytherin, Severus's quarters where located in the dungeons, where as the rest of the group was scattered around the castle. The Black's and Potter's quarters were close to the hospital wing in case of an emergency, the Lupin quarters were close to the astronomy tower as they could get without actually being in the tower, and the Longbottom's were in the main group of staff quarters. Alice was also joint head of Hufflepuff with Professor Sprout. The children were the only ones who lived in the castle full time, so the teaching staff all treated them like one big family. The only other child who lived at the castle was Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.

After Rachel's disappearance Lucius and Narcissa had apologised to the whole group for all the torment and trouble they had helped to cause for the group during their years at Hogwarts, and a weak friendship had been formed. Although the group had strong suspicion that death eaters had been behind Rachel's disappearance, they couldn't prove it had been anyone at the castle who had committed the act. Bellatrix and Rudolphus were currently both in Azkaban for their parts in many death eater crimes, but neither would confess to knowing what had happened to Rachel. Lucius and Narcissa had turned their back on their families and what they stood for, and now currently resided at the castle. Lucius had been very keen on Arithmancy in school, and helped Professor Vector teach the subject, whilst Narcissa helped Madam Pince in the library.

After following the children to the Potters quarters, the door was opened by a smiling Lily. She took her daughter from Severus and beckoned the children inside. The entire group was sat in various places, Maddy and Alice were on the sofa with a space in the middle which Lily sat down in, Remus was sitting in a chair, with Tonks perched on his knee, Frank was sitting in a chair next to the sofa, and James and Sirius were sat on the floor. Sirius grabbed hold of his daughters and pulled them onto the floor with him and began tickling them, to which both the girls giggled. Harry jumped on his dad, Neville slipped over to his mum and Alice pulled him onto her lap, as Teddy as slipped onto his mothers knees. Severus took a seat on the floor with James and Sirius.

"So how was the holiday?"

"It was nice to get away from everything, but I still wish you'd have come with us." Lily said as Ava fought to get off her lap. Lily put her on the floor and she hurried to Severus, who sat her on his lap.

"Mum and Dad really wanted to see you." She added. Since Rachel's disappearance, Severus had become an honorary son to William and Elizabeth Evans, as well as Lily and Petunia becoming like daughters to Eileen.

"Maybe next time, eh?" Severus said. They only smiled a response.

"So where is everyone, place seems really quiet?" Sirius said as he sat with a daughter on each leg.

"Well as far as I know, the only ones who should still be away from the castle are Albus and Minerva." The group looked confused.

"Minnie never takes time away from here." Frank said.

"Apparently Albus convinced her to come on a short break with him, something about a coffee shop with the nicest cakes he has ever had." The group laughed. Albus's sweet tooth was a well known fact.

"That reminds me," Lily said suddenly, "James remind me I have some of mums cakes for Albus."

"Can we give Uncle Severus his present too?" Sarah asked.

"Sure sweetie." Maddy said, as the children rushed from the laps of their parents to get Severus's gift. They came back a few seconds later with a book, which they presented to the stunned man.

"Mum found some old photos whilst she was cleaning the loft the other weekend, so she put some together in a scrap book for you." Lily explained.

"We put some in too." Harry added. Severus flipped through the book and found photos of the group from years gone by. There was one of him and Lily taken at Kings Cross before they got on the train for their second year, along with loads from the trips they had all been on over the summers. The children had also included a few photos of themselves with Severus playing in the grounds of the castle. One photo on the very back page however made Severus stop. It was a black and white photo of himself and Rachel dancing together at the ball in their final year, the last night Severus had seen Rachel alive. Lily must have taken it whilst they were dancing. He could feel his eyes beginning to fill. Suddenly he felt numerous pairs of small arms hugging different parts of his body.

"Don't cry Uncle Severus." Hannah said. "Don't be upset."

"I'm not upset girls." Severus said closing the book. "This is lovely thank you." Severus said hugging back the best he could.

"I can't believe how long it's really been since we saw her." Tonks said quietly. Alice and Maddy each put an arm around Lily who smiled a thank you at the girls. James and Sirius each placed a hand on each of Severus's shoulders and squeezed then gently.

"We'll get her back. She's out there somewhere, just waiting to come home." Frank said. The other nodded an agreement. They all knew how hard it had been on Severus to loose Rachel. For all of them it was like loosing a sister, but whereas each of them had someone they could come home to at the end of the day, Severus had only an empty room. Although they tried their hardest to make sure he always had someone, it was hard, very hard.

"We will find her." Maddy said.

"And when we do we won't let her go again." Severus added.

**I think this has to be one of my favourite chapters to date. I love writing from Severus's point of view, I think he has such an amazing story and I love being able to tell it in my own way. So as always please read and review and I have a big shout out to ****xxxMadameMysteryxxx for being the first review of my new story. **

**Beth xx**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 for you all, enjoy.**

Chapter 3

Jenny closed the door behind her as she returned home after her run. Taking Lola off her lead the dog followed her mistress to bathroom door which was downstairs adjacent to the kitchen. Lola took her usual spot by the back door to guard against intruders. Although she was a small Labrador Lola could bark and yell with the big dogs, and Jenny was very glad of her company. Jenny slipped into the bathroom and turned on the shower, and was soon feeling the warmth of the water cascading down her body. She slipped her hair from its band, and let it fall down her shoulders. When the Matthew's had found her, her hair was incredibly long; so long in fact it was almost annoying. Jenny cut it shorter a few months after she arrived in the village, so that it now fell to the top of her shoulders. She began humming to herself as she showered; songs from her run continued to play in her mind.

Once Jenny had washed herself and her hair, she wrapped herself in a warm and fluffy towel and left the bathroom. Lola lifted her head slightly as Jenny passed her on her way back upstairs to get changed. Jenny walked up the stairs to her room passing the spare room she used as a study, and occasionally a spare room if April ever had arguments with boyfriends and needed to cool off, which was a lot of the time, and entered her bedroom. She pulled open her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of dark blue jeans and her favourite t-shirt, a grey top with the batman symbol in the middle and quickly dressed. Slipping her feet into a pair of sandals she walked back to the kitchen and poured herself a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Lola barked and Jenny poured her food into a bowl for the dog, who barked an appreciation and began her breakfast. Jenny took her bowl and slipped to the table where she booted up her laptop and began the mammoth task of marking her student's books.

At around lunchtime Jenny's mobile rang. Lifting her head from the pile of books, Jenny squinted at the screen trying to see the ID of the caller. She smiled when she realised who was on the end of the phone.

"April, if you need a place to sleep for the night, I don't think I'm gonna be a good choice at the moment."

Nice to speak to you too sis, I'm fine thanks for asking." Jenny laughed.

"Sorry, hello April, how nice to hear from you."

"Thank you that's much better, so what you doing?"

"I'm up to my eyeballs in marking and lesson plans." April let out a noise.

"Well now is the time for fun. How long have you been marking?"

"All morning."

"Then how about lunch? I'll buy." Jenny's stomach growled.

"That sounds like heaven, where shall I meet you."

"How about outside your front door?" April said sheepishly. Jenny leapt from the table and threw open her front door to find her sister sitting in her car, with the window open smiling at her as she waved her phone at Jenny. Jenny laughed.

"Come on let's go." April shouted.

"Let me just grab my bag."

"Bring Lola!" April shouted after her as Jenny ran back into the house.

Jenny emerged a few minutes later with a brown bag over her shoulder Lola running alongside her. Jenny slipped Lola's lead into the bag and pulled on her khaki military style jacket. She locked the door and opened the car door. Lola leapt in the car, and Jenny shut the door after the dog, and slipped in the front seat next to her sister.

"How does Joan's sound?"

"Sounds delicious."

April and Jenny chatted non stop in the short journey to the car park, where April pulled up and parked the car. Clipping Lola on her lead the girls walked the last little way to reach the coffee shop.

"Why don't we sit outside?" April asked. Jenny agreed, and so she and Lola stayed outside whilst April went in and ordered their lunches. She soon returned with 2 cups of fresh lemonade which they enjoyed in the heat of the summer sun. A few minutes later one of the waitresses appeared with their lunch.

"Hi Miss." She said. Jenny recognised her instantly as one of the girls in the top year at her school.

"Hello Francesca, how are you enjoying working here?"

"It's great miss, and I can earn some extra pocket money." April and Jenny laughed as Francesca went back inside and they began their lunch, still chatting.

"So are you coming to mum and dads for Sunday lunch?"

"And miss out on mum's famous apple pie, I don't think so." Jenny replied.

"Mmmmm that is a good pie." April laughed. Lola barked in an agreement that set the girls off laughing again.

They ordered another lemonade each and sat about chatting for a few more hours, before they were interrupted by a voice.

"You got the hermit out of her cave!" April and Jenny turned and spotted Oscar and Jake walking towards them with their children Lois and Ben (Oscar's kids) and Jodie (Jake's little girl). The kids let out a squeal and ran to their aunties, instantly climbing on their laps. Jake and Oscar grabbed some more chairs and joined the girls at their table.

"Well I've got to get April out at some point!" Jenny said with a glint in her eyes.

"He was talking about you!" April called back. The kids laughed.

"Can I have a drink please daddy?" Jodie asked.

"Me too dad!" Ben and Lois yelled together.

"Let me." Jenny said getting up and lifting Lois with her. The little girl squealed and hugged her aunt. "What do you all want?"

"Lemonade!" They chorus's together.

Jenny laughed and slipped into the cafe with Lois still in her arms.

"Hi, can I get 7 lemonades please?" Jenny said to the girl behind the counter. She grabbed a tray from under the till and began placing glasses onto it whilst Jenny put Lois down and pulled her purse from her bag. After paying for the drinks, Lois took one in each hand whilst Jenny expertly balanced the tray and took it outside. She placed it on the table and 6 pairs of hands reached out and grabbed a glass each. Jenny laughed.

The group spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and sipping their drinks. Jenny was laughing at something Jake had said; when out of the comer of her eye she spotted something. It was a woman with a very brightly coloured bag, so bright in fact the colours hurt her eyes. Suddenly she stopped laughing and felt her body being pulled back to another time and place.

She saw a man in a brightly coloured robe and a very long white beard walking down a corridor. He seemed to be talking to someone; someone Jenny saw was a small girl, with black hair. 'Is that me?' She thought to herself. Suddenly the pair stopped in front of a stone statue of a bird, its wings spread wide. The man seemed to mutter something which Jenny couldn't hear before the statue moved to reveal a long staircase, to which the pair entered.

"Jenny?!" Oscar called out gently shaking her shoulder. Jenny shook her head and suddenly she was back at the table with her family looking at her, worried expressions on their faces.

"Did you have another one of your visions Jen?" Oscar asked his hand still on her shoulder. Francesca suddenly came outside with a glass of water which she passed to Jake.

"Joan told me to give you this." She said with a confused expression. She suddenly spotted Jenny.

"Are you ok miss?"

"She's fine kiddo. Tell Joan thank you for this." Jake said, and Francesca slowly slipped back inside the cafe. Jake passed the glass to a shaking Jenny, who took it gratefully. It was a while before she spoke.

"I'm fine." She said. Lois, who was still sitting on Jenny's lap, turned and gave her a hug. Jenny hugged back. She nodded towards her siblings, and they knew that was her cue that she wanted to go home.

Later that night, after Jenny had convinced her family she was ok, and they had left, she was curled up on her sofa, Lola resting her head in Jenny's lap. Jenny had a worn brown leather notebook in her hands, and was scribbling away as if her life depended on it.

"I think that's it Lola." She said to the dog. "All I can remember from this afternoon."

Her 'visions' as the family called them, had started about 2 years ago just as Jenny was finally beginning to feel settled in her home. Each time it would be a short scene often filled with different people and places. Her first one had been simply once when she had heard Lola bark. Suddenly she was staring at a scene in front of her of two children playing with a dog. One girl had long black hair the other was a red head. All of her visions involved Jenny seeing things from above as if she was a ghost floating in the sky. She never saw faces or heard any voices, just people. Once she had seen the first vision she was dragged back to reality by Lola licking her face, as it seemed she had passed out, or collapsed onto her kitchen floor. She quickly grabbed the first scrap of paper she could find and scribbled down everything she had seen. After the visions became more frequent she bought her notebook and began writing them into it to keep all the visions in one place. The worst vision so far had come when she was teaching. She was suddenly over come with a vision of a girl being attacked by a bright green light from somewhere she couldn't see. The light seemed to hit the girl and as it did Jenny felt a sharp and very painful pain in her chest. It seemed to go on for longer than any vision she had had before, and it only ended with another teacher calling her name, as she had again passed out, and her worried students had ran to get help.

Jenny flicked through the book, trying to make sense of her latest vision. She was sure that the woman's brightly coloured bag had set it off, as her visions were mainly triggered by things she saw or heard. Jenny sighed and placed the book to one side.

"What does it all mean Lola?" The dog cocked her head. She hated to see her mistress in distress. Lola licked Jenny's hand. Jenny sighed again.

"Come on." She said. "Maybe a good night's sleep is what we both need." Jenny grabbed her book, and after locking up the house and turning all the lights off, made her way upstairs, got changed into her pj's, cleaned her teeth and slipped into bed, Lola curling up in her usual spot by Jenny's feet. Jenny was a sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

**And there's chapter 3 for you all. As usual please read and review, and enjoy. **

**Bethxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm sorry it's taken so long to post another chapter, life kinda sucks at the moment. I have been working up to my eyeballs for the last couple of weeks, and I unfortunately had to attend 2 funerals in 2 weeks, both family members, so yeah life kinda sucks at the moment. :( **

**But hey, here is my latest chapter, and I hope to get things evened out a bit now. I have my official days off at work sorted, and *fingers crossed* I won't be attending any more funerals anytime in the future. **

Chapter 4

Severus entered his quarters after spending the remainder of the afternoon with his extended family. The children had insisted on having their uncle with them for dinner, since there was very few people left in the castle there was no reason for a formal dinner in the great hall, so they simply had dinner in the Potter family's quarters. As was the norm whenever they got together, the evening was filled with laughter and stories. The group told Severus stories from their holiday, and in turn Severus told them all the stories from the castle while they had been away. It was around 10 when they children began to get sleepy. Ava had been yawning of a few hours, but the thought of spending time with her favourite uncle, gave her the will power to stop from closing her eyes and falling asleep. But once the others started yawning their parents decided to call it a night. Picking up his present Severus said goodnight to everyone, and after telling the children one last story, he left and headed back to the dungeons.

His quarters were cold and dark when he returned. Unlike the decorated quarters of the Potter's, Black's, Lupin's and Longbottom's; Severus's quarters were very bare. The walls were not painted still having their grey brickwork colour, the floors were covered in a very dark wooden floor boards, and his furniture was a dark chocolate colour, again almost black. He had numerous book shelves lining the walls all covered in books of varying sizes and colours. His bedroom however was another story. Although his bed covers were still dark in their colouring, his walls were lined with pictures both moving and still images. Most were of all over the group at various stages of their lives, but in nearly all of the picture was Rachel in one way or another. Severus's bedside table was covered with images of the young witch.

Sighing he shrugged off his cloak and hung it back up in his wardrobe, and slipped out of his shoes leaving them by the wardrobe as he normally did. Shrugging off the rest if his clothes he slipped into his en-suite and showered. Once clean he slipped on his pyjamas and entered his living quarters again, and lit the fire. Settling down into one of the comfortable chairs, he poured himself a small fire whiskey and settled down with a book.

_Severus could have been reading for only half an hour when he heard a noise. A small sound which normally wouldn't have bothered a soul, but since Rachel's disappearance Severus had been on his guard at all times. His eyes suddenly widened and his reached for his wand. Once he had a firm grip on the wooden object he continued to read trying to act as if he wasn't aware of the intruder in case they tried the element of surprise on him. After another minute Severus could hear the noise getting closer and closer until it was almost directly behind his chair. Quicker than a flash Severus had risen from his chair and turned pointing his wand at the intruder. His eyed widened with shock when he caught sight of who it was. The book he had been reading dropped to the floor with a bang, which seemed to echo around the quite room. _

_"Ra... Ra... Rachel?" Severus managed to stutter. He caught sight of the woman in front of him. Her long black hair fell to the middle of her back tied in a loose plait, tied with her signature blood red hairband. Her blue eyes shone out over the room gazing lovingly at him. She wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a simple grey t-shirt which helped to show off her curves and highlight the woman she had become. She smiled at Severus. _

_"Hello my darling, I've come home." _

_For a moment Severus couldn't move, his eyes were transfixed on the woman in front of him daring himself to believe she was actually standing in front of him. As if she was reading his mind she moved to hug the man, to which Severus quickly responded, by hugging her close and holding her so tightly he was sure he must have been cutting off her ability to breathe. _

_"I've missed you so much." He said trying and failing to fight off the tears which were now pooling from his eyes. Rachel simply smiled. _

_"I've missed you too sweetheart, but I'm back now and I'm never going away again." Severus's lips soon found hers and covered them, drawing all the passion he could and forcing it into he kiss. Suddenly he felt something in the back of his mind. _

_He pulled away from the kiss to look directly into the eyes of the woman he loved. _

_"Show me your arm." He said. Rachel looked confused. _

_"Darling why on earth would you ask that? I'm here after being gone for so long; surely you might want to see something more than my arm?" She said with a suggestive smirk. Severus simply grabbed her arm and lifted it to the light. _

_"Just as I thought, no mark, you're not her, you are not my Rachel!" _

_The woman pulled her arm away, her whole body language changing. Her original warm and kind feeling left, and was replaced by a cold and hardened stare. _

_"And whose fault it that?" Severus's grip tighten. _

_"Who are you?" The woman smiled. _

_"You let me down. You claimed to love me, yet you let me get captured, you let me get taken away." She said her voice rising higher and more angry with each word. Severus felt his sub conscience agreeing with the poisonous words spilling from the woman's mouth. _

_"I tried to find you." He tried to reason with the woman but she interrupted him. _

_"And yet I am still missing! You obviously didn't try hard enough." She began to advance on him, causing Severus to retreat. _

_"You promised me you would always have my back, and that nothing could ever harm me while you were around, and look what happened to me, I have been gone for nearly 10 years and you have all forgotten about me!" _

_"That's not true!" _

_"Oh yeah, you may have searched for me once, but when was the last time you went to find me, properly searched for me, hey Severus. Well answer me!" The woman shouted. Severus found himself backed into he corner of his living quarters his back to the wall, his eyes transfixed on the woman how with her face almost pressing against his. _

_"I...I..." Severus found he couldn't answer her. _

_"Your pathetic you know that. I can't believe that I ever though I could care about you. You are a waste of space; you don't deserve to breathe the same air as those who have accomplished something great in their lives. If you were an animal they would have put you down the day you were born. No wonder your own father hated you!" Severus felt each word cut deeper into his already crumbling soul. _

_"You deserve nothing from anyone, the rest of the group don't care about you, the only reason they put up with you in the first place was because I took pity on you. Now they have no reason to keep hanging out with you, you are simply a waste, a lost puppy clinging onto anyone who will throw him a scrap of food. They have no reason to like you, and I know they hate you, just as much as I do." Severus felt himself sliding down the wall, until he felt his bum hit the cold and hard floor. _

_"I never loved you, you were simply a charity case I chose to help, but even I know a lost cause when I see one." She pulled back away from Severus. _

_"Maybe I should finally put you out of you misery." She smiled a horrific smile as she reached for her wand. _

_"Avada Kedavra!" She screeched pointing her wand at Severus who closed his eyes awaiting his death. _

Severus suddenly jolted awake. He took in his surroundings. He was alone in his living room, the fire was dying down and his book had slipped to the floor.

"It was a dream." He said aloud as he ran a hand over his sweat covered face. "Just a dream." It wasn't the first time he had dreamt that Rachel had appeared in his dreams and accused him of not trying hard enough to find her. Each time she appeared she would hurl abuse at him till she was blue in the face, and they she would end each dream with an attempt to kill him, or as she sometimes put it "to make you feel a fraction of the pain you have caused me." Severus bent down and picked up his book. He knew that there would be no way he would be able to get back into a good nights sleep now. Rising from he chair he placed the book back on the shelf and extinguished the fire, leaving the room in darkness. Muttering a spell he found the whole quarters were now bathed in a soft glow. He headed towards his bathroom, where he spent a few minutes splashing cold water onto his face, to try and sort himself out. Removing his head from the sink, he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. His pale skin seemed paler; his black eyes seemed to be cold and hurt. He could still hear Rachel's accusing voice playing over and over in his head. "You are a waste of space. Your own father hated you. I took pit on you. A charity case. I never loved you." He opened his bathroom cabinet and took out a vial of dreamless potion which he downed in one. Putting the vial back in the cabinet, he slowly walked back to his bed before getting comfortable under the covers. He turned to stare at the pictures of Rachel.

"I will find you Rachel. Or I will die trying, I love you my soul mate." And with that he fell into an uneasy sleep.

**And there we go another chapter. Again sorry for the length of time it's taken to post. We will be introducing Jenny to two very familiar magical people next chapter *hint hint*, and hopefully we will all be back at Hogwarts together soon :)**

**As always please read and review, and enjoy the chapter. **

**Beth xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Please don't kill me! I hadn't actually realised just how long it had been since I updated. I say this every time, but life really does get in the way in of things, and days and weeks seem to melt into one. But hey, I've got another chapter, and I'm hoping people are sticking with me, fingers crossed. And for those of you waiting on my NCIS fanfic, I am in the middle of really annoying writers block with that one. But hey, I will get out of it, eventually. **

Chapter 5

It was a few weeks later when Albus and Minerva found themselves standing in an alleyway after disapperating from Hogwarts. Minerva stood brushing her robes down, glancing around making sure nobody had seen them.

"Albus one of these days your sweet tooth is going to get you into big trouble." Albus simply chuckled. He had recently discovered a wonderful little cafe in Cornwall, that made the most delicious lemon cake he had ever tasted. He had come a couple of times by himself, before he finally managed to convince Minerva to come with him. Although she had been reluctant to admit it, Minerva had enjoyed her first trip to the cafe, and it's chocolate fruit cake was fast becoming one of her favourites.

"Now Minnie you also have a weakness for Joan's cakes." He said with the familiar glint in his eyes. Minerva just sighed, and transfigured their robes into something that wouldn't stick out too much. She turned to look around the alley to make sure nobody had seen them, before the pair left the alley and headed towards the cafe.

It was a busier day but Albus and Minerva managed to find a small table for the two of them tucked away in one of the corners of the shop. Joan spotted them when they walked in and smiled to them, gesturing she would send someone over in a minute. Being the gentleman he was Albus moved quickly to pull out Minerva's chair for her, to which she smiled a 'thank you.' The duo saw that Joan had a few people helping her put in the shop including a couple of girls who could have only been in their early teens and a woman Albus recognised as Joan's daughter. A few minutes after they sat down, Joan walked over to the pair with a smile on her face.

"Why Mr Dumbledore, how lovely to see you again, and I see he has managed to drag you along again Miss McGonagall." She laughed.

"Please dear I told you to call us Albus and Minerva." He smiled. Joan smiled again.

"Let me guess, a tea for both of you, and lemon cake for Albus, and chocolate fruit cake for Minerva?" Joan smiled as she repeated the pairs last order. They simply smiled.

"Joan I simply must take some cake back with me for when our new term starts. I simply won't be able to go for too long without tasting it." Minerva rolled her eyes. Joan laughed.

"Give me a few minutes and I'll get one of the girls to bring them over to you." She smiled again and walked back to the counter.

Albus and Minerva settled into their seats and Minerva cast a non verbal silencing charm over their conversation, so they were able to talk freely without fear of someone overhearing their conversation.

"I take it all the visits are in order for the new students?" Albus said.

"Yes, I will be doing a few myself next week, and the others have nearly finished the rest of theirs."

"Wonderful." Albus exclaimed. Minerva laughed.

"Sometimes Albus you are like a child at Christmas, excited by everything and anything." She smiled. Albus smiled back at her.

"Well my dear Minnie, in these times one must gain enjoyment for anything they can." Minerva both scowled and smiled at the same time. Albus knew she hated being called Minnie, but she did agree with his statement. For a second she allowed her thoughts to be filled completely by their missing student. No, she wasn't a student anymore. It had been just over 8 years since she vanished in the middle of the night. Minerva smiled sadly. She would be 26 by now; pretty much a grown woman. She wondered what little Rachel had gotten up to in the 8 years she had been away. She never admitted to herself that the woman may be dead. For the time she had spent with her during her lessons, she knew Rachel wouldn't have gone down without a fight.

Minerva was still daydreaming when the waitress arrived with her's and Albus's order. She only snapped out of it when she saw Albus's expression. The man had turned as white as his beard and his eyes were as wide as the Black Lake. She was confused until she heard a voice from behind her.

"So who is the lemon cake and who is the chocolate fruit cake?"

Jenny had been sitting out the back of the shop getting some more cakes out of the oven, when Joan had popped her head around the door and asked for her help with some of Joan's favourite customers. Joan had asked Jenny if she wouldn't mind helping in the cafe for a few hours when she popped in that morning, and Jenny being Jenny of course couldn't say no. Lola would be ok by her herself for a bit, and Jenny had promised herself she would take her faithful companion for a long walk when she got home. Joan passed Jenny a small grey tray containing two pots of tea, some milk, a slice lemon cake, and a piece chocolate fruit cake.

"For table 13 Jenny dear." Joan said to her. Jenny smiled and took the tray as one of the younger girls, Elizabeth, held the hatch open for her. She thanked her as she walked past.

Expertly navigating the labyrinth of tables in the cafe, Jenny made her way to the corner table. She could see it held two people, an elderly man with an extremely long white beard, and elderly woman who had her back to Jenny. The man looked up as Jenny approached and Jenny saw his eyes widen when he spotted her. It was like he'd seen a ghost. The woman still had her back to Jenny, and as she approached she could see the woman was deep in thought. Shaking off any uneasy feelings she had, Jenny spoke up.

"So who is the lemon cake and who is the chocolate fruit cake?"

Albus simply stared. Minerva was thankful the man had the ability left to not let his mouth fall open, for she knew if he hadn't it would be on the floor by now. Minerva herself was thankful for her ability to be able to keep herself together no matter what the situation, but even she was finding it difficult. The waitress simply stood still holding the tray looking just as confused as they was.

"Erm... I'm the fruit cake." Minerva managed to get out. The woman smiled a friendly smile and removed a hand from the bottom of the tray and placed the two cakes on the table in front of their intended recipients, and followed it with a pot of tea each. She turned to leave when Albus's hand shot out, and grabbed the woman's arm. She turned sharply and stared straight into Albus's eyes. He stared back. For a moment neither moved, which allowed Minerva time to take in the woman fully. She was of average height and had short black hair which was tied up in a ponytail with a blood red hairband. Her skin was a pale completion, and she wore very little make up which only helped to highlight her natural beauty. She had a pair of well wore light blue jeans covering her legs, a grey t-shirt with a black bat in the middle of it surrounded by a yellow outline, which Minerva recognised a the symbol of a muggle comic book character, and had a pale cream apron tied around her waist. She had a pair of a black flat shoes on her feet, which added nothing to her height. Her blue eyes sparkled like precious gems in her midday sun.

Albus released part of his grip on her arm, which allowed her pull herself free.

"Is there anything else I can get for you?" She asked, refusing to let her nerves be heard through her voice. Albus simply shook his head, and the woman began to walk away.

"Yes there is?" Minerva found her voice. The woman turned back again. "Could you ask Joan to come over when she's free?"

"Of course." The woman said.

"What's your name?" Minerva asked again.

"Jenny." Came the reply.

It took a bit of time before Joan was free, but she made her way over to Albus and Minerva. The pair had eaten their cakes and were both drinking another cup of tea when she pulled up a chair and sat down.

"What did the two of you say to Jenny? She seemed ever so rattled when she came back from serving you." She accused.

"That's what we wanted to talk to you about." Minerva said. Albus was still having trouble getting his wits back. Joan looked at the pair.

"Who is that girl?"

"Jenny? She's the Matthews's youngest girl. Local teacher, lovely girl, always says hello, kind, polite, generally just a nice young girl, why?" Minerva was unsure how to phrase the next question.

"Has she always lived in the village?" Joan gasped silently, quickly regaining herself.

"No. She's only been here for about 8 years. Haven't you heard the stories about her?"

"What stories?" Albus asked.

"Well Jenny is known in the village as the mystery girl, well not so much any more." Joan moved herself closer to the pair and lowered her voice. "Susan and Nick Matthews found her in the park a little over eight years ago. Poor girl, she'd been found under a bush by the family dog. Poor thing was soaked through from the rain, it was those storms we had a few years back you remember the very bad ones, anyway they were out walking when they came across Jenny. They bought her here and I fed them all, and we asked Jenny were she'd come from, and what she was doing our in the rain all alone. Do you know what she said?" She asked the puzzled pair. "Nothing. She couldn't remember anything poor child. When they found her she had a very nasty looking cut on forehead, in the shape of a lighting bolt. Her fringe covers it now, but the doctors seemed to think that she had been attacked. As well as the cut on her head she had bruising on her body, suggesting she had been attacked and they thought that this caused her amnesia. She never remembered anything; about the attack, about her life, who she was, all the poor child could remember was that she had recently been at a castle. But of course that could have been anyway. So when nobody reported her missing the Matthews adopted her and she's been living here ever since."

Albus and Minerva looked at each other, both knowing what the other was thinking. 'It couldn't be.' 'After all this time.'

"Do you know something about her?" Joan asked.

"Possibly." Minerva said. "The school Albus and I work at up in Scotland, 8 years ago we had a student by the name of Rachel Evans. The night before she was due to leave for the last time, she disappeared, completely without a trace. She's never been found."

"Scotland. That's a long way away." Joan began.

"Yes, but it is possible it could be done." Albus butted in. "She could have been drugged, or unconscious." He added.

"Possibly, and you think Jenny could be Rachel?"

"Well the timing fits, and she does bear a remarkable resemblance to her, tell me when she was found, did she have long hair, I mean very long hair?"

"Yes, it fell down to her hips nearly."

"That's exactly like Rachel. She had very long black hair tied with a red hairband, she had ever since the day she started at the school." Joan turned to look at Jenny. She was currently chatting to a mother and a child, the child was in her class. Jenny was smiling and laughing, and Joan couldn't help but look her in a different light. Could she be a missing student from a Scottish boarding school?

"But Jenny's not Scottish."

"The school takes students from all over the country, both Rachel and her twin went to the school."

"Her twin?!" Joan exclaimed. "Jenny has a twin?" Minerva nodded.

"Well possibly. Do you think we could talk to her?" She nodded in Jenny's direction.

"I don't see why not, follow me. I live above the cafe, that'll give you a bit of privacy."

She rose from her chair and beckoned for the wizard and witch to follow her.

"Jenny dear," Joan whispered as they reached the young woman. Jenny turned. "Could I see you for a moment please, upstairs?" Jenny looked puzzled, but followed her honorary grandmother without a second thought. Joan whispered something to her daughter, and the woman nodded back as she smiled at Jenny, Albus and Minerva.

**And there we are, please enjoy my latest and very belated chapter, hope you all had a merry Christmas and a great beginning to the New Year. Let's hope this year I can actually stick to a proper writing schedule. **

**As always please read and review, I love hearing from you guys it really makes my day. **

**Beth xx**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi. You will be pleased to learn two things. One I have finally git out of my writers block for my other story 'A Love That Would Last Forever' and I will be hopefully finishing that in the next coming months. (Fingers crossed) I also have managed to plan out this story entirely, so I know exactly what will go into each chapter. Hopefully that will make my posting and writing a bit more normal and patterned (again fingers crossed). Until then enjoy this chapter, I will be including a small 6.5 chapter after this as a sort of filler chapter, once I post it you will understand that a bit better. **

Chapter 6

"So you think I'm a missing student from a Scottish boarding school who went missing 8 years ago?" Jenny said in complete disbelief. She was sitting in Joan's living room, with said woman sitting next to her on the sofa, her hand coving Jenny's, as the two strangers sat opposite the pair both looking at a complete loss for what to say next.

"I know it sounds hard to believe," the man, who had by now introduced himself as Albus Dumbledore began.

"But the similarities between the two of you and the dates of your arrival and Rachel's disappearance just can't be a coincidence." The woman, Minerva McGonagall finished. Jenny looked at Joan, Joan looked at Jenny.

"Would you mind if we asked you a few questions?" Albus asked Jenny.

"You can ask away, but I really don't remember a lot about my past." She said with a glint of sadness in her eyes with was seen by both Minerva and Albus. Albus decided to proceed with the questions.

"Do you ever have any memories or dreams that could be your past life trying to communicate with you?" Jenny sighed and sank into the sofa.

"Occasionally I can get flashes of people and places, but I don't know who they are or where I am. And I can never see faces, every dream I have I'm floating above looking down on what's happening."

"What sort of dreams have you had?" Minerva asked.

"All sorts." Jenny replied. "Sometimes its two young girls playing together, I think they are sisters and I can only guess one of them is possibly me. Sometimes I'm older and surrounded by friends. Sometimes I'm with a boy, and we seem happy. The strangest one I have is when I'm in a castle. Everything seems to move, the stairs, the pictures, even stone statues." Albus and Minerva exchanged an excited glance, which didn't go unseen by Joan or Jenny.

"Does that mean something to you?" Joan asked the excited pair. There seemed almost a silent conversation between Albus and Minerva. She simply nodded.

"What we are about to tell you must not leave this room, no one else must know, do you understand?" Jenny and Joan looked at each other.

"Yes." Jenny said with an uncertain tone to her voice.

"The school Albus and I work at is an unusual school. The students we have are different to the ones you would be used to teaching my dear."

There was something about he way she spoke that seemed to remind Jenny of something she had heard before. Something she couldn't quite place her finger on.

"The students we teach are witches and wizards." Albus said bluntly. Jenny and Joan's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

"Witches and Wizards!" They exclaimed.

"Yes." Albus said with a smile. "Hogwarts is a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Jenny couldn't believe her ears. Just as she was starting to believe that maybe there could be some truth in what the two were saying, they decided to throw a rather large spanner in the works. Suddenly she realised something.

"Hang on, are you saying that I'm a witch?!" She shrieked. Albus and Minerva winced, that had come out wrong.

"If you will let me demonstrate." Minerva said. The woman closed her eyes in concentration, and suddenly sitting in Minerva's place was a very beautiful tabby cat. Jenny and Joan stared. Minerva waited for a minute before changing back into a human. Albus pulled out his wand and made a motion towards an empty cup on the table in front of the sofa, and suddenly in the place of the cup, sat a green teapot.

"Convinced?" He asked with a smile.

It took all of Jenny's will power not to jump up from the sofa, grab Joan and run off screaming.

"I understand this is a lot to take in." She heard Minerva say.

"Understatement of the century!" She muttered to herself. Minerva ignored her comment.

"But we honestly believe the connections between yourself and Rachel cannot be ignored."

"Let me see if I am getting this right." Joan suddenly spoke up. "You are a witch." She pointed to Minerva, "and you are a wizard." She moved her finger to point to Albus. "You both teach at a school of magic, and you believe Jennifer here is one of your students, a witch herself, who disappeared in the middle of the night 8 years ago?" She questioned.

"In a nutshell, yes." Albus agreed.

"Holy crap." Both women chorused.

There was silence for a period of time, before Jenny asked, "so what did you want from me?"

"We simply want you to come to Hogwarts and to see if we can help get your memories back. Being around the castle may break down the barriers which are stopping you from remembering your past." Albus explained.

"That's all very well, but what if it doesn't work. I can't just walk around a castle all day." Jenny said with an exasperated tone.

"Oh course not," Albus said with a twinkle in his eye that Minerva knew from experience meant Albus had an idea, not necessarily a good one. "You could be one of our teachers."

"But I can't do magic!" Jenny cried out.

"Which is why I have the perfect subject for you to teach, Muggle Studies."

"Muggle Studies?"

"It basically means the study of how Muggles, that's non magical people, cope without magic." Minerva summed up, not entirely sure where Albus was going with this idea.

"It's an elective class from the third year to the seventh year. This means the students you would be teaching would be interested in the subjects, and would be ready to listen to you and learn. We could place you with the third through to fifth years, that's the years the students have to begin preparing for and taking their OWL exams." Minerva had to admit, this wasn't the worst idea Albus had ever had, and at least it would give Jenny something to do at the castle.

Jenny felt like her head was swarming with tones of different emotions none of which she knew how to stop or control.

"This is all really too much to take in in one go." She said. Minerva decided now was the time for her to step in cutting Albus off mid flow.

"Why don't you take some time to think it over dear, today is Tuesday so why don't we meet here again on Friday? Is that enough time do you think?" Jenny simply nodded, before excusing herself and walking slightly quicker than normal out of Joan's home and quickly out of the cafe before anyone could stop her and ask if she was alright.

She made it home in record time. Lola seemed to sense her mistress wasn't her normal self and quickly hurried after Jenny who had hurried to her bedroom. Collapsing onto her bed, Jenny let out a scream in her pillow, a mixture of her terror at seeing a grown woman transform into a tabby cat, her frustration at the whole situation, and just being plain scared. Lola gently started to lick the side of Jenny's face, causing the woman to turn her head and greet her faithful companion. Her throat hurt a little from the screaming.

"Hi Lola, didn't mean to scare you girl." She patted the dogs head to show her affection, and to calm down the animal.

"This is all so messed up. I mean magic can't be real, can it?" Lola looked at her as if to say 'you're asking me?' Jenny chuckled.

Thursday afternoon found Jenny still none the wiser about whether or not she would take the job at Hogwarts. Part of her was screaming 'GO! This is the chance you've been waiting for, to find out who you really are' but another part of herself was telling her she was an idiot for even considering it, the pair were obviously mentally ill, and magic didn't really exist. Realising she needed to give Albus and Minerva an answer tomorrow, Jenny had made her way the home she had lived in once Susan and Nick had drawn her into their family. All three of her siblings had moved out living in their own homes with their families, and in April's case, a flat on her own. But Susan and Nick still lived in the main family home, and the door was always open if anyone need them. Now Jenny felt she need her adoptive mother and father. Turning the handle she opened the door and called out to the occupants.

"Hello, anyone home?"

"Jenny dear, I'm in the kitchen." Susan called out. Jenny smiled as she walked through the house to the kitchen out the back. Susan stood over the kitchen counter her arms covered in flour and a tray of freshly baked cookies cooling by the window.

"I'll give you a hug as soon as I've got these last cookies in the oven sweetheart."

Jenny just laughed. For the first time in a good few days she felt safe and comfortable in her family home.

"Hi Susan." She said kissing the elder woman on her cheek, "Nick home?"

"He's popped into town for me; I've run out of milk and eggs." Susan said with a chuckle as she gestured to her cookies.

"Are you decorating them?" Jenny asked with a smile. Susan just looked at her knowingly. Jenny laughed. When the family first adopted her, Jenny had problems opening up to the family and being social around them, to over come those fears Susan had started asking Jenny to help her when she did the cooking, and generally over time Jenny began to open up to Susan over their cooking, one of her favourites was icing the cakes.

"Pull up your sleeves and bring those cookies over here." Susan said as she placed her final batch in the oven.

About 10 minutes later Jenny and Susan were stood icing about 40 cookies between the two of them. Susan had explained she was making them for the Sunday dinner that weekend, and by making extra, the kids would be able to take some home for the next day. Susan could tell her daughter had something on her mind.

"What's wrong dear?" She said head still bent down icing. Jenny sighed.

"I have met someone who thinks they may know who I am." Jenny said quietly. Susan looked up from her icing,

"That's wonderful news angel, who do they think you are?"

"A girl called Rachel Evans. She went missing around the same time I turned up here. The two people I met where two teachers from her old school." Jenny explained still not looking up from her cookie. Susan took hold of Jenny's hand and stopped her.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" Her voice sounded so sincere and concerned Jenny simply burst into tears.

Susan took hold of her daughter in her arms and took her to the living room and placed her down on the sofa. She returned to the kitchen and return a few minutes later with a couple of leftover cookies on a plate. Jenny's tears subsided into sniffles and eventually stopped running down her face.

"Now then, tell me the problem." Susan said offering Jenny a cookie. She took it and nibbled on it slowly.

"They have asked me to come with them to see if it helps my memories, maybe it will jog something."

"I don't see the problem here sweetie."

"I would have to move up to Scotland mum." Jenny said. For a moment Susan was silent. Jenny had called her mum before, normally when she was scared or feeling sad, but she had never followed it by announcing she could be moving to Scotland.

"They want me to go and teach at the boarding school Rachel once attended. But it's all the way up in Scotland. What if it doesn't work mum, what if it's just a complete waste of time? I'll be so far away from home, it's not like I could just jump on a train and be home in an hour is it, I mean I'll be in Scotland!" She cried out. Susan simply took her daughter in her arms and hugged her.

"No matter where you are or who you become, you will always have a home here, and we will always be here to welcome you back with open arms. Jennifer if you don't take this opportunity you will regret it. I know you. Yes you will be far away and yes there is a chance that this could go wrong," Jenny opened her mouth as if she was going to speak, but Susan stopped her. "But there is also a chance that this could be your old life. I would never forgive myself if you didn't find out about your past, and I knew there was an opportunity for you for try." Jenny looked up at her mother, her eyes still slightly damp. Susan kissed her on the top of her head as Jenny curled up into her mother finishing her cookie as she did.

When Nick got home with the milk and eggs he found Susan and Jenny curled together on the living room sofa, Jenny was almost asleep and Susan sat stroking her hair soothing her youngest off to sleep.

"Is she alright?" Nick whispered to his wife. Susan simply smile.

"She is now. I think she's made her mind up." Nick looked confused. Susan gestured that she would explain later as Nick headed to the kitchen to put the food away, and soon joined his wife and youngest on the sofa, joining hands with Susan and moving Jenny so that she was snuggled between the two of them, and that's how they stayed for the rest of the afternoon.

Friday found Albus and Minerva sitting anxiously inside Joan's Cafe waiting for Jenny. They spotted her as soon as she arrived and she made her way over to the pair and joined them.

"Hello dear." Minerva greeted her. "We hope you don't mind, we ordered a cup of tea for you." She moved a warm cup of tea over to Jenny who took it with a 'thanks'. She took a small sip and sat up straight.

"I've had a very long think about your offer," she began. Albus opened his mouth to say something but a sharp glance from Minerva stopped him very quickly.

"And I have decided I will accept your offer." Jenny said finally.

"That's wonderful." Minerva exclaimed with delight. They were finally one step closer to getting Rachel back. Jenny raised her hand to stop her.

"But I have a couple of conditions." She said looking both Albus and Minerva square in the face. "One, I presume you don't have electricity at your castle since with magic I presume you wouldn't need it. I wonder if it is possible there could be a spell I could use to use my electrical appliances such as my laptop and my mobile to keep in contact with my family here." She looked at the two professors.

"I can place a spell over your appliances so that they will not need to run on electricity while you are in the castle grounds." Albus confirmed.

"Lovely, number two I wish to bring my dog Lola with me."

"That would also be acceptable, we allow our students to have familiars with them, would she be ok around cats?"

"Yes, one if my neighbours has cats and Lola is fine with them. And finally I don't want anyone looking in my head. I guess with magic you may be able to see in my mind to look through my memories, but I don't want anyone to go into my head without my permission."

"Completely understood." Albus nodded.

"Lovely, then I am looking forward to working with you." Jenny said with a smile.

**Hello again. So another chapter finished, and posted. I just wanna say thank you so much for sticking with me and reading this far. I was talking with a friend today, and it made me realise just how much I appreciate you al taking your time to read my work, so big hugs and cookies to you all. **

**Please as always read and review, and I'll look forward to reading your comments. **

**Beth xx**


	7. Chapter 6 and a half

**Hi. So I did promise a filler chapter and here it is. Jenny will be going back to Hogwarts in the next chapter, but I felt like I needed to put in this scene. **

Chapter 6.5

Jenny pulled her car into the driveway of her parent's home with a smile on her face. In a couple of weeks she would be on her way to Scotland to hopefully find who she was. Her smile quickly faded when she remembered what she now had to do, tell her family she was leaving in 2 weeks.

"Can't I just send them a text once I get there?" She said to Lola who sat on the passenger seat next to her. The dog just gave her a funny look. Jenny laughed and opened the door.

"Well then, time to face the music." She spotted her nieces and nephew looking out of the window. Waving to them, they all leapt from the sofa and not 2 seconds later the front door opened and 3 very excited children ran out to say hello.

"Auntie Jenny!" Came their excited voices. At 7 Ben was the oldest of the children, with his sister Lois following him at 5, and Jodie at 4. Jenny smiled and opened her arms as the 3 children ran into them. Oscar's wife Amelia stood in the doorway chuckling at the sight, with Jake's fiancée Emma behind her.

"She'd be a good mum." Amelia said quietly so only Emma could hear.

'That she would." The other woman agreed.

That afternoon once Susan's delicious dinner had been consumed and Jake and Oscar had made too many jokes, of which they had both been told off by their other halves and mother, Jenny knew she had to make her announcement.

"Everyone?" She called out, the table turned to her. "Sorry I've just got a short announcement."

"You've finally found a guy!" April blurted out. The whole table just gave her a look.

"No April, but I have met someone, well two someone's actually." The table looked confused, Jenny looked at Susan who simply smiled and gestured for her daughter to continue.

"They're teachers at a boarding school and they think I could be an ex student of theirs, she went missing around the same time I turned up here."

"That's great Jen, does this mean you know who you are now?" Oscar asked. Jenny smiled.

"Well maybe. They want me to come and teach at the boarding school to see if it jogs any memories."

"That's fantastic." Emma said, with the table agreeing with her.

"You did take the job right?" Jake asked. "I know you love the school you're at now, but this is such a great opportunity."

"I took the job." Jenny said. The table cheered. "The jobs in Scotland." She said.

Jenny watched as 8 pairs of eyes stopped and stared at her. Susan and Nick looked at each other.

"I'll get desert." Susan mouthed to him.

"Scotland!" April yelled.

"But that's so far away!" Ben and Lois cried together. Jodie just burst into tears and leapt from her chair and ran to Jenny.

"Please don't leave Auntie Jenny; we don't want you to go away!"

"Oh Jodie," Jenny said picking her niece up and hugging her. Jake and Oscar looked at each other, like they wanted to say something but didn't know what. Amelia looked at Emma, Emma looked at Amelia. April was livid.

"You can't just up and leave to Scotland! What about everyone down here? Don't we mean anything to you?!" Jenny looked like she was about to cry too.

"You guys just told me this was a fantastic opportunity for me!" She yelled back.

"Yes, before we knew it was in Scotland! Can't you just get a DNA test or something?" April yelled her face turning a nasty shade of purple and red.

"April," Susan scolded her daughter. "This is not how we should be acting. We should all be supporting Jenny in her decision. This is an opportunity she simply couldn't pass up."

"You knew about it!" Jake and Oscar chorused together. Susan glared at her 2 other children.

"Jenny came to me Thursday afternoon and we spoke for a long time before she made up her mind."

"Is it something we did?" Lois asked Jenny.

Nobody had noticed Ben and Lois had also left their seats and were now either side of Jenny.

"Oh sweetie, no it's nothing you guys did or didn't do." She cried somehow moving Jodie so that all 3 children were sitting on her lap in a big group hug. The children all cried into their aunt's shirt as Jenny felt her tears falling down her face. She scolded herself; she had promised she wouldn't cry in front of the kids.

"Then what is it then? Cause it's got to be something that we didn't do that means you want to up an leave to Scotland!" April said, her voice cold and accusing.

"April!" Susan and Nick shouted at her. Jenny stopped trying to hold back the tears and simply let them fall.

"Excuse me everyone." She said depositing the children on the floor and rushing out of the room, in a flood of tears. Lola barked an angry bark, and bounded after her mistress, whilst Amelia and Emma took care of their sobbing children.

"April Rebecca Mathews, you will apologise to your sister immediately that was a horrible thing to say to her. You know just how much Jenny has wanted to know where she came from, and she finally gets an opportunity to try and find something about herself, and what do you do? You yell at her until she cries." Nick let his temper get the better of him as he let his daughter have it. April looked sheepish.

Meanwhile upstairs in her old bedroom, Jenny lay on her bed face down in her pillow sobbing. Lola lay next to her mistress nudging her nose underneath Jenny's hair trying to comfort her. Lola turned when she heard a knock at the door, and it opened to reveal a very upset looking April. Lola growled at her.

"Mum I don't really want any company right now." Jenny said her sentence getting muffled by the pillow and her tears.

"Jen Jen?" Came April's voice. Jenny raised her head at her sister nick name for her. April had ordered that no one else in the family could call Jenny Jen Jen, that was her special nick name. Glancing at her sister through tear stained eyes, Jenny saw that April had tears in her eyes too.

"I'm so sorry." April said letting her tears flow as she hurried to her sister and pulled her into a bone crushingly tight hug. Both sisters sat for a few minutes crying into each other.

"I didn't mean anything I said." April sobbed. "I just don't want you to go so far away." She cried.

"Oh April, I don't like the idea of being away from everyone either, but mum's right, I can't let this opportunity go with out taking a chance." Both sisters look at each other.

"How long?" April asked.

"2 weeks." Jenny replied. "But we can Skype everyday, and I'll call you all the time, all of you I promise."

"It won't be the same." April said. Jenny was just about to respond, when April stopped her. "But I'll take it. And you had better call me everyday, promise." She chuckled through her tears. Jenny managed a sad laughed.

"I promise, everyday." April laughed.

"Come on, we'd better go down before everyone thinks I've killed you to stop you going away."

"You wouldn't dare." Jenny smiled.

"I love you so much Jen Jen, you're the best sister I could ever want."

"I love you too April. Now come on, otherwise the boys are gonna eat all the desert." Both sisters laughed.

**So there we go, I wanted to have a small scene with Jenny and her adopted family to show how much she care about them. **

**As always please read and review as normal, and I'll be back to normal chapters soon. **

**Beth xx**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hello. Just a short intro from me today. So today marks a nice week long holiday for me from work, so fingers crossed my writing, which has sadly taken a back seat from my life, should hopefully now come to the fore front. (Hopefully)**

Chapter 7

"This is ridiculous." Sirius moaned. Maddie hit him for what felt like the 100th time that day. It had been roughly 2 weeks since the group had come back from their holidays, and while they were trying to catch up with paperwork, and lesson plans and anything else they had let slip, Albus had decided to call a staff meeting on a Friday afternoon, when the students would be back at school the end of the following week.

Maddie and Lily had spent the best part of 3 days with Madam Pomfrey sorting out the hospital wing, giving Severus a list of the potions they would require for the new school term, along with many other duties of being Healers. Frank, Tonks and Sirius had only been back at Hogwarts a day, before they were called out on an auror mission which had lasted a week and a half, and resulted in Tonks spraining her ankle. Severus had spent a long time brewing the potions Lily, Maddie and Poppy Pomfrey needed, along with stocking his own supplies, cleaning his classroom and potions equipment. James and Madam Hooch had also spent a long time making sure all the Quidditch equipment was where it was supposed to be, making sure all the school's brooms were safe for the students to used, and ordering more to cover those brooms which needed desperately to be 'retired'. Remus had unfortunately had a full moon only days after the group had arrived back at Hogwarts, and since Tonks, Frank and Sirius were away, Lily, Alice and Maddie were looking after the children, that left only Severus and James to accompany him during his transformation that month. The trio decided to spend the night in the shrieking shack instead of running around the Forbidden Forest. Alice unfortunately had the most work to do. Due the nature of some of her plants, and her lesson plans, she and Professor Sprout, had needed to plant up over 300 plants in the short time frame of only 2 days.

Albus meanwhile had seemed rather out of sorts when he and Minerva arrived back from their short trip away, the pair had then spent the rest of the week all a nervous jitter until finally they disappeared again on Friday of that week, returning later that afternoon full of smiles and the joys of spring. Both refused to tell their confused colleagues what it was that had got them so happy, only saying that all would be revealed in due time.

"Sirius, we are all annoyed at having a staff meeting on a Friday afternoon," Tonks said. "But can you please shut up, you are driving me crazy!" She was sitting in one of the chairs with her ankle propped up on a stool resting it. Remus sat beside her with little Teddy on his lap. Frank and Alice sat next to them with Neville perched on the floor in front of his mother playing a game with Harry. Lily and James sat on a sofa with Severus, who had Ava sitting on his lap, and Maddie and Sirius were next to them on chairs, with Sarah and Hannah on the floor in front of them playing their own little game and ignoring the boys. Little Draco Malfoy sat next to his mother and father, looking on at the others playing. Although there was a strained relationship between his parents and those they used to fight with, Draco was a very shy child and didn't socialise with other children much.

Sirius was just about to fight back with his cousin, when the door opened and in stepped Albus Dumbledore, with a very wide grin on his face. He was dressed as usual in his brightly coloured and garish robes, and had his long beard tied together at the front. Although he had requested every one of the staff to be in attendance, Minerva was nowhere to be seen.

"Good afternoon all, I do apologise for pulling you all from your work but I have a rather important announcement to make."

Meanwhile in Cornwall Jenny was all packed and ready and waiting for Minerva to come and pick her up. Rather than tell her family that she was going to be going to a magical school with a witch, she had told them that Minerva was in town and would be going with Jenny by train to London, and then they would arrive in Scotland late that Friday evening, and therefore she would call them Saturday morning to let them know she had arrived safely. Jenny wasn't entirely sure how Minerva was going to get them to Scotland, but she was hopeful that they would be able to carry her suitcases. She had a suitcase full of clothes and shoes that she would be needing for a year of teaching, she had updated her kindle with a large selection of books she would be using in her lessons, and a few chick-flicks for her to read when she wasn't working. Lola had all of her toys packed into a bag with a few of Jenny's pictures and knick-knacks to make her room more homely, along with her laptop. Jenny was sitting on her sofa reading a book when she heard a knock at her door. She opened it to reveal Minerva standing on her doorstep.

"Afternoon." Jenny said motioning for the elderly lady to come inside. Lola had moved from her spot on the sofa and came to stand by Minerva, she barked when she spotted the woman, Minerva simply patted the dog on the head. Jenny laughed.

"She can probably smell your cat sent." With that Minerva laughed.

"Do we have time for a cup of tea before we need to go?" Jenny asked.

"My dear, we have more than enough time." Minerva said as Jenny led the way to her kitchen. She spotted Jenny's suitcases as they walked.

"Will that be too much to take?" Jenny quizzed. Minerva shook her head, and took out her wand. She mumbled a spell that Jenny couldn't hear, and suddenly Jenny's suitcases shrunk to about a tenth of the size they were, which Minerva simply lifted and placed into her pocket.

"Is that all you want to take with you?" She asked. Jenny stared in disbelief.

"That is going to take a while for me to get used to." Minerva laughed.

After a cup of tea and a short explanation of how they were going to get to Hogwarts, Minerva took hold of Jenny's hand and the pair apperated to the grounds of Hogsmead. Once they arrived Minerva offered Jenny a vial of anti-nausea potion which she rejected. Jenny was simply having too much fun. The short trip from Hogsmead was spent with a quiet talk between the two as Hogwarts castle approached in the foreground.

"Wow" was all Jenny could say as the castle came into view. She had never seen anything so beautiful in her life.

"Does it bring back any memories?" Minerva asked. Jenny simply shook her head.

"Well then," Minerva said, taking hold of the young woman's hand. "It gets even better inside."

"Albus isn't there a better time to be calling a staff meeting than a Friday afternoon?" Sirius asked, the rest of the Marauders simply rolled their eyes.

"I do apologise for the timing, but I fear my announcement could wait no longer." Albus said with a cryptic smile. Lily looked confused.

"What is it Albus?" She asked.

"There will be a new member of staff joining our ranks today." He said with a smile and a glint in his eyes.

"That's your big announcement?!" James said in disbelief.

"That's why you called a staff meeting on a Friday afternoon?!" Sirius chorused at the same time.

"Will you quit it?" Frank said. "We all know it's a Friday afternoon, you don't need to keep telling us." The rest of the staff chuckled at Frank's comment. Alice placed a hand on her husband's shoulder.

"Which subject will our new teacher be teaching?" She asked.  
"Muggle Studies, she will be joining Professor Burbage. Professor Matthews will be taking the third through fifth year O.W.L students, whilst Professor Burbage will concentrate on the N.E.W.T students." Professor Burbage simply nodded.

"Professor Matthews?" Maddie pondered. "I don't recognise the name, I take it she didn't come to Hogwarts?" She asked aloud. Albus looked a little sheepish.

"Well," he mumbled, "That's the interesting part, she didn't attend a magical school. Until 2 weeks ago when Minerva and I met her, she was a muggle."

"Is this really a good idea?" Jenny said suddenly stopping dead in her tracks. Minerva stopped in front of her, she turned to face Jenny, seeing the look of concern on the frightened young woman's face.

"I mean, you have no idea if this girl really is me. What if this is all a big coincidence, and I'm not Rachel?" Minerva took hold of the young woman's hand.

"Jenny, you wouldn't be here if you weren't willing to try. You wouldn't have come this far. And if you are anything like the woman I have met so far, then you won't give up so easily. You want to know who you are, just as much as we want to find Rachel."

"A Muggle?! Albus are you mad!" Filius Flitwick exclaimed. "Letting a muggle loose in Hogwarts could be dangerous. She won't have the ability to protect herself." Albus simply raised a hand.

"It isn't that simple. She is someone of great importance to us. Currently this school is the best place for her."

"Want do you think?" Minerva said as she and Jenny made their way through the main courtyard of Hogwarts and to the main doors. Jenny simply smiled and turned to face Minerva.

"You were right, this place only gets better." Minerva smiled at her eager young colleague.

"Come on, there's plenty more to see inside."

"What makes this girl so special then Albus?" Hagrid, the groundskeeper and Care Of Magical Creatures professor, asked. Albus smiled again.

"Let's say she's one of a kind." The room looked confused. There suddenly came a knock at the door.

"Ah, right on time. Come in Minerva."

Jenny and Minerva made their way through long corridors till they reached a set of stair cases. Jenny looked at them, and gasped as she saw them move.

"Ah yes, be careful with them, they do tend to move from time to time." She hurried after the transfiguration professor as she advance down the corridors till she reached a set of portraits.

"These are the staff quarters." She stopped in front of a portrait of a summer's beach landscape complete with lighthouse and boats, all of which were moving.

"This is your quarters. To enter you simply need to speak your password." A lighthouse keeper came out of the lighthouse and stared up at Jenny.

"Password?" Jenny looked at Minerva.  
"It's up to you my dear, you choose." Jenny though for a minute.

"Home sweet home." She said with a smile.

The portrait swung open to reveal a wide and spacious room, with simple furniture and rooms leading off to the sides.

"This door leads to your bedroom." Minerva said with a gesture, "and this your bathroom." She pointed to the next door. She removed Jenny's suitcases from her pocket and with a simple wave of her wand, they were transformed back to their normal size.

"You can decorate any way you like. As for now we must be taking our leave. We are expected in the staff hall in a few minutes, and Albus doesn't like to be kept waiting."

Minerva and Jenny continued their walk down the corridors until they reached another door at which point Minerva stopped and smiled.

"Are you ready?" She asked. Jenny took a deep breath before nodding. Minerva knocked on the door.  
"Wait here, I will call you when we are ready."  
"Come in Minerva." Came a call from inside.

The door opened and Minerva slipped into the room. She smiled at the faces she had grown to love as an extended family, and now one more would be joining them.

"Did she enjoy her tour so far?" Albus asked his deputy.

"I do believe so, and she had chosen her password for her quarters and I have left her luggage for her to unpack. I thought it best to ask the house elves to leave her room for now, she is just getting to grips with magic as it is, this may spook her more."

"A wise idea, is she outside."  
"Ready and waiting to come in." Minerva responded.

"Well then." Albus said turning to face his faculty. "It gives me great pleasure to introduce our newest member of staff, Miss Jennifer Matthews." Albus said opening the door.

The room gasped as Jenny came into view. Frank's mouth fell open, Alice simply gasped an 'Oh My'. Maddie's eyes nearly popped out of her head, as did Tonks, her hair changing an almost florescent shade of white as it normally did when she was surprised. James fell off his chair and landed with a bump on the floor next to his son. Remus was stopped dead in his tracks, and Sirius had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Severus simply increased his hold on Ava, as he was scared if he released his grip she would fall off his lap, he suddenly also felt his heart quicken and his arm released a flood of warmth. Lily simply uttered one word.

"Rachel?"

**And voila. Two chapters in one day, all be it for different stories but oh well. Since it is rather late where I am, and considering I need to be up early tomorrow for an appointment, I will end my ramblings there and say goodnight to you all. **

**As always please read and review, I look forward to reading your comments. **

**Beth xx**


	9. Chapter 8

**Hello. I'm back. No excuses for how long it's take me to write and post this, but all I will say is 'doesn't life suck sometimes?!' **

Chapter 8

The room was silent. Lily leapt from her seat and grabbed the new addition to the room and hugged her tight. Jenny felt the arms wrap around her and hold her tight, so tight in fact it felt like she would never let her go. Unsure of what to do Jenny stood still, dead still. Something Lily immediately picked up on. Her arms felt the body of Jenny stiffen at the contact.

"Rachel?" She questioned.

"Wait a minute," Frank said as realization hit in. "Why did you call her Jennifer?"

"Because Jennifer is my name." Said Jenny, Lily still hugging her. She let the girl go.

"What do you mean your name's Jennifer?" She said tears in her eyes. Jenny turned her head to look at Minerva.

"Help." She squeaked. Minerva gently removed Lily from Jenny and helped her back to her seat.

"Albus," Came the elder woman's voice. "I think perhaps you should explain." She took hold of Jenny and guided her to a chair so she could see the entire room, Minerva stood behind her; a hand on her shoulder.

"Jennifer," He said emphasizing her name, "Is going to be joining us as our newest teacher. She has for the last 8 years been living in Cornwall, as a Muggle." Sirius looked like he was about to ask a question, but a look from Minerva shut him up. "She has been working as teacher, and has very kindly agreed to spend the next year working here."

"May I ask a question?" Alice's voice was heard in the silence. Minerva looked at Jenny, she nodded. Alice looked at Jenny.

"Jenny, if I may call you Jenny, where were you before the 8 years you have spent in Cornwall?"

For a moment Jenny said nothing. Alice looked dejected.

"I don't know." She finally said.

"You don't know?" Remus added. Jenny nodded, before taking a deep breath.

"Before I arrived in Cornwall, I can't remember anything. My parents found me in the park, and I've been with them ever since." She said with a smile.

"You have absolutely no memory of your life?" Tonks said amazed. Jenny shook her head. "The first thing I remember is waking up 8 years ago, in the middle of stormy rainy evening, absolutely soaked to the bone, freezing cold in the middle of a park. Then Susan and Nick appeared." Her love for the people who had rescued her and taken her in, was obvious in the tone of her voice.

"If you don't mind me asking again," Alice questioned, "What did you look like when you were younger?" Jenny laughed.

"To be honest I wasn't much different than I am now. Obviously I was younger, but my hair was still the same sort of colour, it's gone darker as I've got older, my eyes are the same, my skin tones the same; the only think that has really changed is my hair length. It used to be ridiculously long." She said with a chuckle.

That was the only thing about Jenny that the others hadn't recognised. Her hair colour was identical to Rachel's but whereas Rachel had her signature long hair, tided in her plait and pulled to tight end with her blood red hairband, this woman had shorter hair cut to her shoulders. She had slight curls at the ends but all in all, it help to frame her face, and suited her more than anything. The Marauders knew from this description that when Jenny had been the age that Rachel had been when she went missing, the pair could have been mistaken for identical twins.

"Albus she's Rachel she must be!" Lily exclaimed, completely ignoring Jenny sitting in the chair. "Everything fits, we've found her at last!" She cried.

"Lily…" Albus began.

"She's home, I knew you come back eventually." She once again leapt from her chair and dashed straight to Jenny. "Don't worry about your memories, they'll come back now your home. You're finally back with your family where you belong, and I've got my sister back, and I refuse to ever let you go ever again."

Jenny's expression suddenly changed.  
"Albus and Minerva have told me just how much you loved Rachel, and your relationship, but I would like to point out that I don't have any memories of you, any of you." She gestured to the rest of the group. "So my family as you put it, are back in Cornwall. My mother and father, my brothers, my sister and my nieces and nephew. I am here to try and remember something that may or may not exist. I am not 100% convinced I am your sister, and until I am convinced I would appreciate it if you didn't make decisions for me. I have no memories, not a complete loss of my intelligence." She snapped at Lily.

Lily backed off.

"I…I…I…" She stammered at a complete loss for words. Minerva quickly took charge.

"Jennifer, why don't we continue that tour we started." Jenny wasted no time getting up and following Minerva out of the room. Lily stood completely still, unmoving.

"Lils?" James said. He was worried about his wife, like the rest of the group he missed Rachel, but even he had to admit Lily may have been a bit keen.

"She doesn't know me. My own sister."

"Lily, calm down." Maddie said with a mature tone. "She doesn't remember anything, not just you. She could be Rachel, it's just her memories are buried deep down. I think Albus is right, staying here and teaching may help her, and if she does remember something then she is in the best place to get help." The entire time Jenny had been in the room Severus had been silent simply gazing at the woman. Like the group he could see the similarities between Rachel and Jennifer, but he could also see the differences. Rachel was quieter around new people, Jennifer's enthusiasm around those she didn't know, could have been a side effect of being found with no memories, but something about it made Severus seem awkward. Unlike Lily, Severus wanted to see how Jennifer adapted to living at the castle and around magic, this he told himself would help him to decide in his mind if this woman was his one true love, and if she was how he could help her to regain her memories.

Minerva dashed after Jenny who had stormed out of the room with the great purpose. She could tell that the woman was angry with Lily, for insinuating that Jennifer wasn't completely able to look after herself.

"Jennifer, Jennifer wait!" She called. She watched and hurried after Jenny as she made her way to the stairs, Minerva sped up.  
"Jennifer STOP!" She cried out. That caused Jenny to stop. As Minerva caught up with her she could see that Jenny had tears in her eyes.

"Oh sweetheart." She pulled the young woman in a hug, a hug Jenny didn't bother to fight off.

"I thought this was a good idea." She cried.

"Oh darling this is a good idea." She said. "Come with me."

Minerva and Jenny made their way into a bright and open courtyard, where the sun shined and the birds tweeted in the high tower next to the courtyard.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Minerva said quietly. Jenny walked around the courtyard taking in the sight before her.

"It is." She whispered. "This is dedicated to her isn't it?" Minerva nodded.

"We put it in the summer before the group started teaching here, we thought it might be a nice place for them come and relax, and remember her."

"You talk about her like she's dead." Minerva dropped her gaze.

"I don't know what to think anymore. Until I met you, I would have been able to comprehend the idea that maybe Rachel is dead. I mean 8 years is a long time to be missing. When Albus and I met you, and heard your story, about how you lost your memory, everything seemed to make sense. We had all been under the impression that Rachel couldn't come back because something was keeping her from coming back, but maybe we should have been thinking that she couldn't come back home, because she didn't know where home was." Jenny sniffed.

"You think maybe I am Rachel? That this is all real and by being here my memory is just going to spontaneously come back? That sort of thing doesn't even happen in the movies." She admitted. Minerva smiled a comforting smile.

"I don't know for certain if you are Rachel, but you are the closest we have come to finding her in 8 years. That's got to count for something."

"You want me to stay?"

"I do, but it's your decision. If you want to go, then I won't stand in your way."

Jenny looked out over the courtyard again. Ever since she had arrived at the castle something inside of her felt a connection. She'd never felt that before, not around anyone or anything that had ever claimed she was someone they knew. She knew that in her heart something about this castle felt familiar, homely, and the people who inhabited it, felt comfortable and safe. In her heart Jennifer knew she had made up her mind, she couldn't leave not now, not now she'd a connection. There was something here she needed to find, whether it would prove she was Rachel or she wasn't, it was here, calling for her, begging to be found.

**So a shorter chapter for today. Sorry for the length but this chapter has really been giving me problems. I know Lily may seem a bit off to some people, but this is how I believe that Jennifer would react to being told she was someone she couldn't remember. **

**Anyway please read and review, I will read all the comments you make. Have a great week and I'll hopefully (fingers crossed) have another chapter ready soon. **

**Beth xx**


	10. Chapter 9

**Hello, I'm sorry please don't kill me. I'll give you cookies? Honestly guys I have been losing my enthusiasm for this story set recently, but I have also at the same time, been losing my enthusiasm for writing in general. I guess at the moment I have kinda been thinking that I need to do something with my life. I'm not giving up on this story, no way! I love where it's going, and I do have a story plan of how I'm going to continue, but I am having problems thinking of the storyline for the last story in my trilogy. Work isn't really helping, cause everything is so busy over the summer in retail (honestly how I have managed nearly 3 years at my job is a mystery to me), but in just over a month I will finally be able to have my 2 weeks holiday from work, and I am seriously needing a break, I think my last break from work was April! Oh the joys of being an adult! On a slightly better note, I have recently passed my driving test! Look out world I'm loose on the roads!**

**Anyway enough of my ramblings, just a quick question though, does anyone actually read the authors comments at the beginning of chapters? I know I read some, but if anyone is actually reading my ramblings (and I don't mean the story ramblings) please say something. I would be nice to know I'm not just writing this down for nothing. **

Chapter 9

September the first came around quicker than Jenny expected. She had spent her time at Hogwarts with Professor Charity Burbage her Muggle Studies colleague, going over lesson plans, getting used to her classroom and being given some helpful pointers for her lessons. Since Jenny didn't possess any magic, and she couldn't have a teacher sitting in with her all the time, she had chosen to conduct her lessons in more Muggle fashion. Instead of writing with quill and ink, she had bought pens and notebooks for the students to use, her blackboard would be written on with actual chalk, instead of magically writing things, and her students would have a Muggle experience at learning Muggle Studies. Charity thought it was a wonderful idea, although she herself had been a muggle until she was 11, her lessons were more magical based, but the pair decided to try Jenny's idea and see how it worked out. Minerva had continued to show Jenny the various aspects of the castle, and she had been warned about the dangers of the Forbidden Forest, to which she gladly agreed never to enter. Albus had introduced her to all the current ghostly guests of the castle, and the house elves which both scared and interested Jenny. She had been formally and properly introduced to all the staff members and the children of the teachers. With Jenny's permission Minerva had also placed a protection charm over her, just in case any rouge spells came in her direction.

It was also during her time at Hogwarts that Jenny had set aside her confrontation with Lily and had tried to make friends with the Marauders. She seemed to get on well with Alice and Maddie straight off, as the girls treated her like a person and not just someone who could have possibly been from their past. The same could be said for Frank and Remus. Tonks was her normal self and something about her reminded Jenny of April, so they too had struck up a good friendship. Sirius had been apprehensive at first, but over the time he and Jenny had struck up a friendship and often the two could be found in her classroom playing exploding snap, which Jenny still flinched at no matter how many times they played. Lily however had still to apologise for her outburst, simply she was scared. James tried his hardest to be the middle man between his wife and this newcomer to the castle, but Jenny could tell he was as scared of her appearance as Lily was. She guessed it was because Lily had been searching for her sister for 8 years, her twin sister, which was someone you couldn't forget easily. Severus meanwhile was a mystery. Jenny couldn't help but be intrigued by the mystery that surrounded the man. He seemed too stared at her every time they met, and he had yet to even say a 'hello' to her. Minerva had warned her that in the last 8 years Severus had become increasingly distant from those he had once spent every waking minute with, all since Rachel's disappearance. Jenny meanwhile had been intrigued, determined almost to find out everything she could about the man.

That evening the new students had arrived on the train and boats had carried them to the castle. They were all chattering amongst themselves as they stared up at the floating candles adoring the ceiling, the sea of young 11 year olds dressed in their black robes, all eager to learn all the magic they could. Some of the older students stared at the staff table as they took their seats. They recognised all the older faces of their previous professors. Professor's Potter, Lupin and Flitwick all seated and smiling as they converse in hushed tones. Professor Snape sat on the end of the table as normal dressed all in black, with his signature scowl etched on his face. Next to the staff table was a smaller platform which was designated for the children of Hogwarts. Harry sat next to Neville, with Ava next to her brother; he was tasked with keeping an eye on her during dinner. Teddy Lupin was next to Neville, and Sarah and Hannah, took the remaining 2 seats, with Draco Malfoy sitting quietly next to Sarah. What was interesting for most of the students was the new young teacher sitting next to Professor Burbage. She had short black hair and a pair of bright blue eyes. She seemed to be engaged in a topical discussion with the Muggle Studies professor. Some of the students were wondering if she was the newest Defence against the Dark Arts professor.

Since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had cursed the position the school had never been able to keep a professor for more than a year. The last professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, had left at the end of the last year after much speculation that the famous writer wasn't actually the prolific writer he claimed to be, and in actual fact was a complete fraud. Minerva was standing with the first years she had escorted into the hall. An old worn hat was sitting on a wooden stool, Jenny had been informed this was the sorting hat; an old magic object which would sort the new first year students into their houses. Dumbledore rose to address the chattering students.

"I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce." He began. The first years please note, that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also our caretaker Mr Flitch," He gestured to the back where an older man stood dressed in a long brown trench coat and the light simmered off his balding head. "Has asked me to remind you that the 3rd floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds, to anyone who does not wish to die a painful death. Thank you."

'Great way to inspire the children.' Jenny mumbled to herself.

The hat began to come to life, and as it did it began to sing a rather melancholic song.

_Oh you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!_

Jenny joined the fellow students and teacher clapping to the hat as it finished its song. Minerva then began a roll call of all the new students and used the hat to sort them into their new houses. Once it had finished he rose again.

"Let the feast begin." Dumbledore stated.

After Jenny had fully stuffed herself silly, she turned to Charity.

"That was the most delicious meal I've ever had, just don't tell my mother." Charity chuckled.

"Trust me by the time you finish here next year you will have at least doubled your body weight." Both women chuckled. From her seat at the other end of the table Lily couldn't help but see Jenny and Charity's interactions with each other. Her heart felt sadness creeping in.

'That should be me.' She thought. 'That should be me and Rachel.'

Once the students had finished their meals and eyes began to grow sleepy, Dumbledore stood to make his final announcements for the evening.

"Before you all head off to your beds, I have 2 small announcements left to make. For those older students you will undoubtedly recognise the majority of our teaching staff, except for 2 new additions. Professor Andrew Castleford will be joining us as our newest Defence Against The Dark Arts professor." He gestured to the older man sitting next to Professor Flitwick, who stood to a small applause from the crowds of students. Dumbledore smiled at the man, and he took his seat again.

"And to Professor Jennifer Matthews, who will be joining Professor Burbage in teaching the third through to fifth year Muggle Studies students. I hope you will join me in wishing them both a warm welcome." Jenny stood at Albus's introduction, and the students could now see she was the black haired blue eyes woman they had all been wondering about. There was something about her that some of the students picked up on. She seemed nervous, maybe it was just down to her new job, or maybe there was something else. Jenny quickly sat down again.

"That is all for tonight," Albus continued "Prefects please escort your house members to their respective houses, lessons will begin tomorrow. Good night to you all."

**Ok so another chapter done and posted. I'm not going to ramble on again this time, but please as normal read and review, and hopefully you will all hear from me again soon. **

**Beth xx**


	11. Chapter 10

**Hello, I'm back again. So we are off with Jenny's first lesson at Hogwarts. Wonder how she gets on?!**

Chapter 10

Jenny's first class began on the Monday of the new school term. Luckily it wasn't until second period so she had the whole of the first hour to make sure she had everything in order for her class. Minerva had volunteered to sit in on her classes for the first couple of weeks, and when Minerva couldn't sit in with her both Albus and Filius Flitwick had volunteered. She had the third year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs for her first class, and then the third year Slytherins and Ravenclaws on Tuesday period 4, her fourth year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs Wednesday period 1 and the Gryffindors and Slytherins fourth years period 4 on Wednesday also, finally her fifth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws on Thursday period 3 and the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs on Friday period 5. All in all her timetable was set out quite nicely, and Jenny was looking forward to her classes. So on Monday just before her class was due to begin Jenny heard a knock at the door to her classroom, it was Minerva.

"You ready for your class?" She asked, Jenny shakily smiled and nodded. Minerva took her seat at the back of the classroom, as Jenny headed to the door and opened it to see a sea of smiling third year students.

"In you come guys." She called.

Jenny stood at the front of the classroom looking out at the students. The Gryffindors sat one side and the Hufflepuffs the other, Jenny frowned. She had been warned that the students would probably be sitting with the others from their houses, and that this was a normal occurrence in the school.

"Ok, so my name is Miss Matthews, please don't call me Professor, it makes me sound like in an old woman, no offense Professor McGonagall." She added quickly. Minerva simply smiled. Some of the students chuckled quietly to themselves.

"So my lessons are going to be slightly different to what you are used to." She said noticing the students were getting out their quills and ink.

"First of all I want you to put away all your quills, ink and parchment, you won't be needing any of them." The students looked confused.

"In my class if you want to learn how Muggles live, you will learn like a muggle." Jenny smiled to the students as she walked to her desk and picked up a huge pile of notebooks, before passing them out to the students along with a pen each.

"These are what Muggles use in our schools, for my lessons you are going to be using them."

One student shyly raised her hand. Jenny smiled.

"Yes Miss…?"

"Walker." Minerva supplied.

"Miss Walker?" Jenny asked.

"Were you a muggle Miss Matthews?" She asked. The room looked at their professor. None of them had ever heard of a Jennifer Matthews attending Hogwarts, so they automatically assumed she had come from another magical school. Jenny smiled. She had had a feeling that these sort of questions would be asked in her first class.

"In answer to your question, yes I was a muggle, but I was introduced to magic at a later age." She smiled with a wink to Minerva. The children looked even more confused.

"I will explain in a moment, but I would like to try something else out first. In my muggle school classes I used the first lesson of the year to get to know my students and for them to get to know me. So that is what we will try. You are all allowed to ask me one question each and it can be about anything, within reason." She added on the end, the kids started to smile. One boy in the second row raised his hand.

"Yes Mr…"  
"Carter Miss, Adam Carter."

"Mr Carter." Jenny greeted him.

"What did you mean by being introduced to magic at a later age?" Jenny laughed.

"Were you a muggle Mr Carter?" Jenny asked.  
"Yes miss."

"How old were you?"  
"11 Miss." Jenny smiled with a glint in her eyes.

"Until just under a month ago, I didn't know magic even existed."

The students began to chatter to each other in hushed tones. Another boy raised his hand a few seats down from Adam.

"Does that mean you can't do magic?" He called out.

"Please don't call out in my class," Jenny said quickly, "But yes, I can't do any form of magic. Unless you count pulling a coin out of my nephew's ear at Christmas." She smiled with a laugh. A few of the muggle students got Jenny's joke, but most students looked blank.

"Miss?" Came a shy voice close to Miss Walker. Jenny looked over.

"If you can't do magic, why are you teaching at a magic school?" Jenny looked thoughtful.

"That is a good question. Professor Dumbledore saw something in me that he thought would be useful for the school, who am I to argue with the man?"

Back at the back of the classroom Minerva smiled to herself. 'So much for Jenny needing help with her classes.' She thought. 'The woman has the kids eating out of the palm of her hands.' She decided to herself to show Albus her memory when they were alone later, to show him just how capable Jenny was, and how much like Rachel she reminded her. Minerva suddenly remembered something, Rachel's soul mark. Jenny should have one if she was Rachel. She strained her eyes to the woman's wrist, but saw nothing on the exposed creamy skin. She felt her heart sank, this would put no doubt in the minds of the Marauder's that she wasn't Rachel and they would send her straight back to Cornwall as soon as they could. Minerva suddenly remembered reading something about soul marks when Rachel and Severus had first shown them to the teachers, they were a very powerful source of old magic, and old magic was always hard to understand. She couldn't see any indication of the mark on Jennifer, but since Rachel's disappearance Severus's mark had gotten lighter and more transparent. They had guessed that it was because he wasn't near to the one he loved, but now Minerva's mind began to wonder. What if because of Jenny living for so long as a muggle, and the fact that she couldn't remember her past, and that had been hiding her mark for so many years before that, it may have contributed to its disappearance. Minerva knew that Jenny had her doubts about who she was, and if she could have been Rachel, the fact that she didn't fully believe it, may also have contributed to the marks disappearance. Minerva made a note to herself to keep an eye on Jenny's wrist to see if her being around magic and those who were dear to Rachel, made the soul mark reappear and confirming who Jennifer really was.

"Who's next?" Jenny's questioning interrupted Minerva's train of thought. Hands shot up in the air. Jenny pointed to a taller boy in the back row.

"Samuel James Miss, what's your favourite thing about magic so far?" Jenny smiled.

"An excellent question Mr James, I don't really know at the moment, it's all so…" She trailed off.

"Magical?" One of the girls put in. The classroom laughed.

"Yes I suppose it is." Jenny laughed. Another girl raised her hand. Jenny nodded to her.

"What was your life like as a muggle?" Jenny looked at the girl.

"You're not a muggle are you?" She asked.

"No Miss, I'm a pure-blood."

"Well, life as a muggle isn't really much different to yours I suppose. Whereas you have magic, we have science, you have wands to do everything for you, we have technology and electricity. You use owls to keep in contact with family and friends, we have phones and email, and skype." Jenny pulled her phone from her pocket. "Let's try an experiment shall we?" The students who weren't muggle born looked confused as Jenny pressed a few buttons on the phone and screen lit up. Suddenly the students heard a voice from the phone.

"Hi this is April, can't to the phone right now leave a message and I'll call you back, bye." Jenny smiled at the looks on her students faces.

"How did you do that Miss?" One asked.

"That is how muggles communicated. We can call people and talk to them over the phone. That woman you heard, that's my sister April, she is currently in Cornwall, miles and miles away from here, but I can talk to her with just the press of a button."

Albus and Minerva were sitting in the elder man's office that evening discussing Jenny's first day as a teacher.

"You should have seen the students Albus, they were hanging on her every word. They didn't even care she wasn't witch." The woman summarised.

"Well I'll certainly be looking forward to sitting in on her lesson tomorrow, sounds like she is something else."

"That she is, have you spoken to Severus about her?" Albus looked down, the young man he considered as a son was taking Jenny's return very hard.

"He's torn between his feelings. He still cares deeply for Rachel, and he won't move on until he knows where she is and what happened to her."  
"I was afraid you would say that. I do believe he feels partly responsible for what happened. He was the one who knew something was wrong, but he was powerless to stop it."  
"He does indeed. Maybe bringing Jennifer here, is what he needs."  
"Do you think she is Rachel? I mean I know that the timing and everything else fits and she has Rachel's personality and everything else, but do you think we are placing all our hopes on one woman? What if she isn't Rachel?" Albus moved to hug his old friend.

"We cannot think like that Minnie. Jennifer is a mystery. She is exactly how I imagined Rachel would be, the woman she would become, we must hold onto that, and never forget it." Minerva looked at Albus square in the face, she saw the twists and torment of the older man's life in his eyes.

"I know. I just hope we're doing the right thing Albus."  
"So do I Minnie, so do I."

**Ta-da. A shorter chapter today, but I believe I got my point across. And to crown it all off a shorter notice from me too. :)**

**Please read and review as normal, and I'll look forward to reading all your comments. I hope I answered the question of the Soul Marks which have been mentioned in a few reviews. My idea for them is that if a person truly believes in the love and compassion they represent then they will burn bright, but if a person is doubtful of the love and compassion they will dwindle, and since Jenny still has doubts that she is Rachel, that's why she doesn't have the mark, only time will tell if she finds it. And as for the review asking about Ron and Hermione, since I have changed the timing of the children's births, I won't be including them in my story, not sure about the final story though, still working on that.**

**Beth xx**


	12. Chapter 11

**Hello, I'm back again. So we have now arrived at the gossip part of the story. How quick do we think it would take a boarding magical school, to tell the gossip? My guess is very quick! :)**

Chapter 11

'_So she's a muggle?!' _

'_Are you sure, that seems very far-fetched?'_

'_I'm telling you she told us, it came from her!' _

'_I bet she's something to do with Dumbledore, that's why he'd have her teaching here even though she's not magical.'_

'_Maybe she's his daughter?!' _

'_The greatest wizard since Merlin, has a non-magical daughter?! Yeah right.'_

'_It could happen!'_

'_If she is Dumbledore's daughter, I wonder who her mother is.'_

'_I bet it's McGonagall!'_

Jenny couldn't help but laugh to herself at the last piece of gossip she heard. She had only told her class she wasn't magical that morning, and yet already the gossip had spread around the entire school, from the youngest students to the oldest. The looks she got as she wandered around the castle were hilarious. Remus had given her a map he and the other Marauders had made in their school years, and he'd charmed it to open at her touch. Jenny couldn't have been anymore grateful, not only did it help her find her way around the castle, it also told her where everyone was at any given time. It was around lunch time and Jenny had made her way to the great hall, when she heard all the gossip. She had wondered how long it would take for her non-magical status to get around the school.

'Quicker than I thought.' She mumbled to herself. Jenny had a bet with herself that it would take at least a day for her status to get around, but she hadn't thought that anyone would think that she was related to the staff, well apart from Lily, but that still had to be confirmed.

She slipped into the Great Hall for lunch and hundreds of students stopped and stared at her. Jenny smiled and slipped into a seat next to Minerva.

"You seem to have a captive audience." The older woman chuckled.

"I did wonder how long it would take for me to become the latest piece of gossip. Have you heard any of the rumours?" Minerva chuckled again.

"Oh yes. Some of them are quiet good my dear." Now it was Jenny's turn to laugh.

"I bet I can top your best one." She whispered. Minerva gave her a funny look.

"You're on. Let me have a think." The older woman smiled. "There have been the odd few about you being related to members of staff, I think the one about you being Severus's sister was quite a good one."

"Still not as good as mine." Jenny smirked.

"Ok, how about the rumour that you are actually a ministry spy, who is here to check on the teachers?" Jenny thought for a minute.

"Good, but still not as good as mine."

"Well this I have to hear." Poppy Pomfrey commented from the other seat next to Minerva.

"Have you heard any good rumours then?" Minerva asked one of her oldest friends.

"Well I heard one about you being a vampire my dear." Poppy said with another chuckle.

"A vampire? I know I don't know much about magic yet, but don't they have problems with being out and about in the day time?!" Jenny said sarcastically. Minerva and Poppy burst into fits of laughter. Some of the other staff members looked at the women with funny expressions. Tonks and Alice who were sitting a little way from Jenny turned their heads.

"What's so funny?" Tonks asked.

"Just discussing some of the rumour about me so far." Jenny informed them.

"Oh they are good." Alice said. The others stared at her. "Well they are, and some of them are very funny." She admitted.

"Heard any good ones?" Poppy asked. Alice and Tonks thought for a minute.

"Well there was that one about you being a ghost?" Tonks said after a while.

"A Ghost!" Jenny, Minerva and Poppy gasped together.

"So you hadn't heard that one then?!" Tonks smiled.

"Or" Alice piped in. "I heard one about you being a decedent of Merlin."

"Typical," Jenny said "I tell the students I have no magic, and they all think I'm lying." The women began to chuckle.

"So what was this rumour you heard Jenny?" Poppy asked. Jenny smiled a huge smile.

"Apparently I am the non-magical daughter of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and his Deputy Minerva McGonagall."

The women were silent for a minute, before they burst into laughter. Tonks and Poppy actually had tears pouring down their faces, Minerva was laughing so hard she thought she was going to have to excuse herself to sort herself out. Jenny and Alice were trying to hold in the laugher, but both failed miserably. The students just stared at the staff table where currently five of the staff were wetting themselves laughing, including Professor McGonagall, who had the honour of holding the title of 'Humour killer' amongst the students, as none of them had ever heard her laugh.

"Oh that's so good." Tonks gasped in between the tears.

"How did they get to that?" Poppy asked.

"Apparently I have to be related to Dumbledore since he hired me knowing I didn't have magic. How they connected you Minerva, I have no idea."

"Maybe Minerva has something she needs to tell us?!" Poppy said with a huge smile at her old friend. Minerva scowled at her through the laughter.

"Very funny Poppy."

"What's that then?" Dumbledore asked taking the other seat between Jenny and Alice. The women looked at each other again before bursting out laughing again.

"Just discussing the rumours about Jennifer." Poppy said through the laughter.

"Ah yes I have heard some of those." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Have you heard the one about Jenny being yours and Minerva's daughter?" Poppy asked him. The look on his face was enough to send the women into hysterics again.

About 2 weeks later after the rumours had died down a little, Jenny was on her way to Dumbledore's office. She had been thinking lately about how she could jog her memory. If there was anything in her mind about Hogwarts and its occupants, she wanted to remember them. She had come to the conclusion that maybe she needed to be more involved with the other members of staff; and her plan was to ask Dumbledore if she could sit in on some of the other lessons, to try and get a feel for what her life could have been like if she was Rachel. Jenny still had doubts in the back of her mind; yes the timing all fit, and she did feel at home in the castle like she had spent an enormous amount of time there, but something in the back of her memories, told her something wasn't what it seemed. She knew about Rachel's relationships with most the staff her own age. She knew that Lily was Rachel's twin, and the others were considered as close to family as they could get. She also knew that Severus and Rachel had been a couple when she disappeared, she'd wormed that out of Minerva a few days after she arrived; since Severus wouldn't talk to her she thought she'd find out why. Jenny understood that Severus still held a candle for his old girlfriend, Minerva had told her he hadn't dated anyone since or before for that matter, and Jenny thought it was sweet that he wouldn't move on with his life till he knew Rachel was ok; even she didn't want to see him anymore.

As she rounded a corner, the man who was occupying her thoughts appeared in the corridor she now stood in. Jenny stopped and Severus spotted her, he stopped as well. Jenny took a deep breath and made the first move towards him. It was late in the afternoon and most of the students were in their common rooms, a few were dotted around the castle, but the corridor Jenny and Severus were in was deserted.

"Hello." Jenny said out of politeness. Since arriving at the castle she and Severus had barely spoken two words to each other, not through lack of trying on Jenny's part. Severus normally answered her with a grunt and walked off in the opposite direction, this time Jenny wasn't going to let him. The man grunted as normal and tried to walk past her.

"This is silly." She said grabbing hold of his arm. Severus instantly turned to face her, his obsidian eyes glaring at hers. Jenny held her ground, but she understood why most of the students were scared of him.

"You and I are working together, we should at least be civil towards each other." Severus continued to stare.

"And you can do that all you want, I'm not giving up." He was taken aback by her words. No-one had ever dared to stand up to him before, well apart from his friends. The glare he was giving Jenny was reserved only for his students, and normally it made them run off screaming, not Jenny.

"Will you let go of my arm?" He asked in a monotone voice.

"I think that's the most you've ever said to me." She said in her normal cheerful tone. "Severus, why do you hate me? I know about your relationship with Rachel." A flash of sadness was evident over his face. "And I don't want us to fight, I want us to be friends." She said letting go of his arm.

"Why?" He asked, not moving away. 'Good.' Jenny thought, 'At least he's talking to me.'

"Why not? I don't want to be a source of pain for you, for any of you. I can guess how much it's going to hurt if I turn out to be someone else, you're not only one who's lost someone. I don't know anything about myself. I don't know if I have a family out there looking for me, if I have a partner, siblings, friends." She trailed off. "You know Rachel, you have memories. Me? I don't have anything. All I know is Jenny Matthews, and I want to know more." The pair were silent for a while.

"I don't hate you." Severus finally admitted. Jenny looked up. "You asked me why I hated you, and I don't. It's just you brought back memories I hadn't thought of for a long time." He said in a whisper.

"I get it." Jenny smiled comfortingly. Severus looked at her.

"It's just, you're so much like her. Not just in the way you look, but your personality, the way you act, the way you sound when you speak, you even have the same little noise you make when you laugh. You could be her, and it hurts." He admitted finally breaking down and having tears form in his eyes. Jenny sighed and pulled the man into a hug. Surprisingly for Jenny, Severus didn't pull away; he instead pulled her closer and tighter.

"I miss her so much." He sobbed into her shoulder.

"I know you do." Jenny said rubbing a hand over his back as the man cried.

"Having you here, it makes me think about if I could have done something to stop her." Severus admitted to Jenny. She pulled him out of the embrace.

"Don't think like that. Trust me thinking like that leads to a path that you don't want to go down. Minerva said she disappeared in the middle of the night, how could you know what was going to happen?"

"Because I saw it!" Severus shouted. Jenny's eyes widened.

"You saw her?" She questioned in disbelief.

"Yes, no, sort of."

"You're going to have to explain Severus." He sighed.

"I saw her being attacked." Jenny's eyes got wider. "I thought it was a dream, a nightmare, when I woke I just wanted to see her, to reassure myself she was ok." He admitted leaving out the bit about how his soul mark had faded when he awoke. "When the girls came down and Rachel wasn't with them, I knew my dream was real. I knew she was hurt, quite possibly dead." He said still crying.

"How could you tell, all you saw was her being attacked, people are attacked all the time and they survive." Jenny tried to reassure him.

"I recognised the spell she was hit with." He said. "It was the killing curse. No-one has ever survived that."

"Maybe she could be the first?" Jenny said quietly. Her mind was racing, if Rachel had been hit by a killing curse, why did everyone think she was Rachel? Suddenly it clicked in her mind.

"You never told anyone what you saw did you?" Jenny realised. Severus shook his head.

"They knew I had a bad dream about her, but I never told anyone what I saw. All I said was I saw Rachel walking away from the castle. I couldn't tell them, how could I? Her parents arrived and her older sister, how could I tell them that I thought she was dead?" He said. "That's why I helped them look, I hoped and prayed I was wrong. But we never found anything. Until you came along." Severus turned to look Jenny square in the eyes again. Jenny found herself staring into those deep obsidian eyes, but seeing nothing but regret and a scared young man.

"When you arrived, everything seemed to be better. I thought I was wrong, that you'd finally come home."

"What's to say she hasn't? I don't know if I am Rachel, but I sure as hell am gonna find out." By now Jenny was crying too. "And even if I'm not, I'm gonna help you find her." Severus looked at Jenny with a confused expression. Jenny smiled.

"I can help, get a fresh pair of eyes to look at everything. I might think of something you haven't."  
"We thought of everything."

"Well, if your dream was right and Rachel was hurt, surely she'd seek medical attention?" Jenny said like it was the most obvious think in the world.

"None of the magical hospitals in Britain had anyone matching her description admitted." Severus argued.

"What about the non-magical hospitals?" Jenny pleaded. "If she was like me, and she found herself somewhere she didn't know, or if someone found her unconscious, they would have taken her to the nearest hospital magical or not." Jenny said. Severus looked at her.

"You're right." He said with a smile.

"So she could have gone to another hospital and you wouldn't have known because you wouldn't have been looking for her there." Jenny smiled. Severus could have kissed her.

"You're right, I never thought about that."

"Well then, go find her." She told him. Severus beamed and hugged Jenny again before running back towards his quarters.

Jenny laughed and continued towards the headmaster's officer. She felt like she'd finally got through to Severus and maybe, just maybe, they could start to build a friendship.

**And there we go. A lot of people have been saying they hope Jenny will get her memories back soon, but I am afraid to announce it will be a while before she can remember everything about herself, otherwise I'm gonna need to rewrite my plan for this story. But she will remember, it's just gonna take a while. **

**So I hope your all having a lovely summer, even if the sun isn't shining and it's pouring down with rain, but hey that's England for you. A quick update on my other planned stories, I have mentioned about a secret NCIS story, well I am pleased to announce it is finished, and I am in the process of writing it up and correcting any mistake, as for my HP/NCIS crossover, I have it planned and the first chapter is written, so it is all a good at the moment, and trying to find the time to write about 3 different stories is a bit of a problem, but hey I love a challenge. **

**So as normal please read and review, I love hearing from you, and if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask, I will try to answer them in the best way possible. **

**Hugs and cookies to everyone, speak soon.**

**Beth xx**


	13. Chapter 12

**Hello. So it's a Sunday afternoon, I'm done with work for this week, although I'm back tomorrow :( My 3 story challenge is coming along slowly. I have just over half of my secret NCIS story written up and corrected, so hopefully I can start posting that soon, but my crossover story is also in the process of getting a makeover, and hopefully I can get that up sometime too. For now though, enjoy my latest instalment of the Jenny/Rachel saga. **

Chapter 12

"Lola heel!" Jenny called running after her mad dog. Since arriving at the castle Lola had been kept mainly confined to Jenny's quarters, but since it was the weekend Jenny had decided to give the dog a tour of the castle. So with her map and lead the duo had set off for a day of exploring. Unfortunately Lola had decided she wanted to explore at her own pace, so she slipped the lead and took of charging down the corridor. Jenny had of course taken after her, apologising to the students in the corridor as she passed them rushing after her pet.

"Lola!" Jenny called again trying to get the offending animal to stop. Up ahead she spotted one of the teachers she had yet to become fully acquainted with yet. She was walking with a young child and Jenny remembered Albus telling her that that was the Malfoy family. The husband was one of the teachers, Jenny couldn't remember which subject, but she remembered seeing the woman in the library occasionally and the child? He had unusual name, Dragon or something like that. She watched as Lola headed straight in their direction.

"LOLA STOP!" She yelled out causing most of the students who weren't already staring at her to stare, and she caught the mother and son's attention who turned also. Lola skidded to a halt, and turned to look at her mistress. She cocked her head and gave her a funny look, almost as if she was laughing. Jenny finally caught up and slipped the lead back onto Lola's neck, making it slightly tighter this time so she couldn't escape again.

"Sorry." Jenny said to the small family. The woman didn't move, she kept her eyes on Jenny. Jenny was used to this from the staff. Since most of them had known or taught Rachel at some point in their careers, they were still trying to come to terms with Jenny being around and not being able to refer to her as Rachel. The little boy however started peeking out from behind his mother's legs and looked at Lola, who for once was sitting and doing as she was told. Jenny smiled.

"Its ok, she won't bite." She said to the young boy crouching on her knees to reach his level. The woman looked unsure. The boy however looked at his mother with a pleading glance.

"Can I mother?" He asked. Jenny couldn't help but smile. The lad was incredibly sweet, and very polite towards his mother. Whether that was the way wizarding families referred to their parents or not, she didn't know.

"Very well Draco." The mother replied to her child. 'Draco.' Jenny thought, 'that was his name.'. Draco slowly came out from behind his mother and advanced towards the dog. Lola stayed still and let the boy approach. He reached out a hand and placed it on the dog's fur. Very slowly a smile started to creep onto his face, and soon he was hugging the dog as if she were his own. Jenny smiled at the sight, wishing she had a camera with her. The mother kept one eye on her son, the other focused on Jenny.

"She's a sweet dog." She finally spoke. Jenny smiled.

"She's great with kids. My nieces and nephew love her." Jenny admitted to the blonde woman.

"I'm Jenny by the way." She introduced herself. "And this is Lola, in case you didn't hear me shouting." She laughed.

"I know who you are." The woman replied cryptically. "And I wonder, if maybe we could talk, in private?" Jenny was confused.

"Erm…" She stuttered.

"Please," The woman seemed to beg, "I don't mean you any harm, I just… well… I've heard from the students that you are… I feel there is something I should tell you, before you hear it from someone else." She confessed. "I have been meaning to seek you out since you arrived, but I was fearful of how you would react, in case you remembered something." Suddenly it clicked in Jenny's mind. This woman had something to do with Rachel. Something that she had been hiding for a long time, and something she needed to share with someone. Jenny looked down at Draco and Lola, the pair looked like they were becoming fast friends. She smiled back at the woman.

"Why don't we go to your quarters? It'll be more private."

"Thank you, I'm Narcissa by the way. Narcissa Malfoy."

Jenny took in her surrounding once the trio plus their canine companion reached the Malfoy family quarters. They were situated with the main bulk of staff quarters only a little way from Jenny's own. Narcissa gave the password and they all trouped into the living room. It was decorated with a dark green almost forest coloured walls, and old fashioned looking furniture.

"I'm guessing you and your husband were in Slytherin?" Jenny joked. Narcissa smiled.

"Somethings are hard to let go of." She replied. "Draco, why don't you go and get your toys from your room and play with Lola?" The little boy looked at his mother with astounded eyes.

"Can I?" He asked.

"If that's ok with Miss Matthews?" Narcissa looked at her.

"First please call me Jenny that applies you to you to Draco." She smiled at the boy. He beamed back. "And second, of course you can, I think Lola likes you." Draco immediately grabbed hold of Jenny's legs and wrapped his arms around them hugging her. Jenny stumbled slightly but held her balance. Draco soon let go and rushed off with the dog following close behind him.

"Tea?" Narcissa asked.

"That would be lovely, thank you." She waved her wand and a tray appeared floating with two cups of steaming hot tea, milk and sugar. The pair took their respective cups and settled down onto the sofa in the living room.

"You're home is lovely." Jenny remarked.

"Thank you. Lucius, my husband, he isn't one for decorating, so he let me have free reign of our home." She waved a hand around the room. "We're both purebloods you see, this is the sort of home we both grew up in, well we didn't grow up in a school." She laughed. "We wanted Draco to grow up as we had, but without the rules and stipulations of our families."

"I don't follow." Jenny said confused. Albus and Minerva had explained briefly to her about the systems of pure bloods vs muggle borns, but she was still confused by it all. Narcissa sighed.

"Lucius and I grew up believing the thoughts of our fathers, that pure bloods were the best, the most supreme, the only ones worthy of magic. I am ashamed to say that was the view we carried for most of our education here. We both despised Muggle borns, and all the evil thoughts and values pure bloods showed, we had." The woman looked like she had been though an awful lot in her life. Jenny placed a hand on top if hers and squeezed it tightly.

"It's ok, I'm not going to judge you. Everyone has done things they are not proud of. It's what you do after that makes you who you are." Jenny surmised. Narcissa wiped away her tears.

"You know, you are just like her. Rachel I mean. I'm sorry if that's hard to hear, but you are." Jenny smiled again.  
"You knew her then."

"Yes, both Lucius and I were at school with her, and that's really why I wanted to talk to you. Both of us, we were quiet horrid to her in her school years. We could blame it on our upbringing, but in a sense, I know for me, I was more jealous of her than anything else."  
"Jealous?"  
"How much do you know about Rachel?" Narcissa asked. Jenny shrugged.

"Not much to be honest, I've heard bits about her, she was kind, friendly, a little hot headed in my opinion, but she had a good heart, and she always put her friends and family first."

"That she did. But she was also extremely powerful." Narcissa told her.

"Really?"

"Oh yes, she had more power in one hand than quite a few pure bloods. I'm not entirely sure about her back ground, but I know she was a muggle born, and that sort of power doesn't normally appear in someone of her blood status." Narcissa informed Jenny.

"So Lily has the same sort of power. I mean they are sisters, right."

"Yes and no, Lily and Rachel were sister, but only Rachel had the extreme powers. Lily's just your average witch." Jenny closed her eyes for a moment.

"Are you ok?" Narcissa asked.

"Yeah, it's just a lot to take in. I mean, being told you could be a witch is one thing, being told you could be an extremely powerful witch is quiet another, especially when you can't remember anything at all." Narcissa took this as her turn to squeeze Jenny's hand.

"So you really can't remember anything past your life in Cornwall? Nothing at all?"  
"Nope, nothing. If I am Rachel, then I don't remember anything." Jenny looked away.

"You don't think you are her, do you?" She questioned. Jenny sighed deeply.

"I just thought… I hoped that coming here, reliving the life Rachel could have had with her family and friends, it would jog something in my head, maybe… Oh hell I don't know. I want to know who I am, I really do, but sometimes I just think that all this, it's just not me." Jenny opened up.

She hadn't opened up to anyone like this since she had arrived at the castle, sure Minerva knew she had her reservations about the idea she was Rachel, but she didn't know just how deep those reservations ran.

"I think you need to believe in yourself." Narcissa piped in. Jenny sighed again. Then something clicked in her head.

"You said were." She blurted out.

"Pardon?" Narcissa replied.

"Were. You said Rachel and Lily were sisters. You think she's dead don't you?" Jenny questioned. Now Narcissa's turn to sigh.

"There are thinks about that night that I haven't told anyone." She confessed. "I… I… I think maybe I know what happened that night." She spoke almost in a whisper.

"You were there!" Jenny exclaimed.

"No!" Narcissa exclaimed. "No I wasn't there, but I heard something. My sister Bellatrix, she hated Rachel, way more than I did. She wasn't jealous of her, she despised her. She knew just how powerful Rachel was, and she was furious that that kind of power, went to Rachel and not her. My sister, she's crazy, I mean really she's crazy. You know about he-who-must-not-be-named right?" Jenny nodded.

"Bellatrix, she always wanted to follow him, to the point of it became an obsession. I hate to think of what became of her, but I can imagine."

"What do you mean, don't you see her anymore?" Narcissa laughed.

"I haven't seen anyone from my family since the day they disowned me. When Lucius and I saw what was expected of us, to follow our families into serving him, we were scared, terrified even. We begged Dumbledore to help us, to get us away from him, he offered us safety here. We couldn't go through that. The night Rachel disappeared, I was awoken very early in the morning, by Bellatrix coming into our bedroom. She older by 9 months, so we were in the same year, but she seemed weirdly happy when I woke up. She had this evil grin on her face, and so I asked her what she was so happy about. She told me to forget I'd seen her, that it would all become clear in the morning. When Lucius and I heard Rachel was missing, I knew instantly Bellatrix had been involved. I asked her outright what she'd done, but she just laughed, told me that she'd been taken care of, that she wouldn't be bothering anyone anymore."  
"You think she killed her?" Narcissa shook her head.

"I don't know, whether Bellatrix killed her, or she was part of some big plan to get rid of Rachel, but I do know in my heart, that she had something to do with it. I tried to tell Dumbledore, really I did, but I couldn't. She was still my sister, I couldn't tell on her. I blame myself for Rachel never being found. But that was really what convinced me I needed to get away from my family. They would expect me to become like her. I couldn't do it. Lucius and I we joined the search for her, we apologised to her group over and over, and thanks to Dumbledore we got away. But I still fear what Bellatrix did." By now Narcissa was crying.

Jenny couldn't believe her ears. A child had openly admitted that she had been part of a plot to kill another child.

"But, if you believed Bellatrix had killed Rachel, why didn't you say something when I appeared?" Narcissa looked Jenny square in the eyes, her own tear stained ones meeting Jenny's blue orbs.

"When I first saw you, I wondered if I was wrong. I thought that maybe Rachel had survived. After that night, no one has heard of the dark lord since. There was a rumour that Rachel had destroyed him, and herself in the process. Bellatrix would never talk about it, I assumed it wrong, and that somehow both of them had died. When I first saw you, when Albus introduced you, something in my mind, told me I was wrong. That Rachel had survived. That she had defeated the dark lord, and that something had happened to her and she had become you."

"You snuck out." Jenny suddenly remembered. "When I was first introduced to the staff, you and Lucius left before Albus told everyone what had happened to me." Narcissa nodded.

"When you didn't come and find us, and we heard the staff talking about Jenny and not Rachel, it just clicked. You hadn't responded to Rachel, because that wasn't you. You were Jenny. It just all made sense. Rachel never came back after that night, because she didn't remember. Lucius said we were in the clear, no one would ever find out what we knew, but it just kept eating away at me. Seeing you every day in the great hall, and knowing what I knew, I had to tell you even if you turn out not to be Rachel, I couldn't keep it a secret any longer. I'm sorry."

The pair heard a bang from Draco's room and Narcissa rushed off to see what the noise was, leaving Jenny alone with her thoughts. She could see in Narcissa a woman torn between doing the right thing, and the loved she still held for her family. This dark lord, he was far more powerful that Jenny had believed, even after he was believed dead, he still held power and fear over the Malfoy couple. Jenny had no doubt in her mind, that Narcissa truly had believed her sister had played a part in Rachel's death, and until she came along, she believed Narcissa had truly thought Rachel Evans was dead; and that when Jenny had appeared she had been torn between what her mind told her and what her eyes could see. The young woman had been through a lot in her short life, and Jenny knew in her heart she hadn't meant for any harm to befall Rachel, no matter how much she was jealous of her powers, she hadn't wished any harm on her fellow student. Suddenly the woman in her mind came out of the bedroom, her robes swishing behind her, and for the first time Jenny could see Narcissa clearly. The young woman looked old, older than she was, the years of keeping a secret that big had taken their toll on her.

"Sorry Draco dropped something, made a louder noise than he thought it would. Would you like some more tea?" She asked noticing Jenny's cup was empty.

"No thank you, Narcissa," Jenny paused. Narcissa sighed. "Narcissa I understand. I know this was a hard thing for you to tell me, and I respect your decision to trust me, and I promise you, I don't hold you responsible for anything that happened to me. Now, if that's all you need to tell me, then I think it's time we put all this aside and concentrate on the here and now, and I believe that I would like to spend some time getting to you, the real you, the woman I can see becoming my good friend." She smiled.

"You mean that?" Narcissa said astonished.

"Yes." Jenny smiled. "I really do."

**So there we go. I have always liked the idea of Narcissa and Jenny being friends. I never thought that Narcissa could have been friends with the other women because of what they remembered of her in their school days, but with Jenny it's like a blank canvas, they have no history, they can begin their friendship from here and see where it goes. I want to know what you think. **

**I have read stories on here where Narcissa and Lucius have tried to make amends for their actions, and I see them as both having been brainwashed in a sense by their families, but especially in Narcissa's case, she had one sister who became the dark lord's follower and died for his cause, and another who ran away from everything her family stood for to follow her heart. And what she did for Harry in the end, it really made her character for me. I wanted to try and get that in my variation of her, so let me know what you think. **

**As always please read and review, I am trying desperately to make the gaps between my posting as short as I can, but things get in the way that I just can't help, and time goes quicker than I think. But thank you to everyone who has stuck with me, I know I say this a lot but you guys really do mean a lot to me, and its because of you that I keep writing, I don't want to disappoint anyone and I love that you guys have stuck with me and my ramblings and random sporadic posts. :) So thank you once again.**

**Beth xx**


	14. Chapter 13

**Hello, I seem to be getting better at posting these chapters now. So nothing big happening in this chapter, but my next chapter will be leading to a point in the plot I am excited about, more on that later. For now, enjoy.**

Chapter 13

Jenny was sitting in a rather comforting chair, right next to the fire in the staff room one Friday afternoon reading through her book, with Lola curled up at her feet, when she heard Alice and Maddie talking behind her.

"I don't know what we can do, Severus says he can't leave his potion so that's him out of the equation." Maddie said sounding exasperated.

"What about Minerva?" Alice enquired. "She always said she would be able to look after the kids if we needed it."

"Already asked her, she and Albus have something at the ministry tonight." Maddie replied.

"You having trouble finding a babysitter?" Jenny asked turning around to face the women.

"Oh Jenny sorry we didn't notice you there." Maddie apologised.

"That's ok." Jenny replied with a smile. "You need a babysitter?" She questioned.

"Yeah for tonight." Alice told her. "Some old friends of ours from school have asked us if we want to meet for dinner, and our original babysitter has cancelled on us."

"Why don't I look after the kids?" Jenny asked. Maddie and Alice looked at her as if she had just offered to donate a kidney.

"Would you really? That would be fantastic." Maddie squealed.

"I'm guessing it would be all the kids not just yours?" Jenny replied with a chuckle at Maddie's excitement.

"Yeah, would that be ok?" Alice asked her with a worried look.

"Sure. The more the merrier."

And so at around 6 that afternoon, Jenny found herself at the door to her quarters as it opened to reveal 4 sets of parents and their 6 children. She smiled and moved over as the children ran into her quarters and pounced upon Lola, all bar Ava, who reached out from her mother's arms to Jenny, who took the little girl and gave her a hug.

"Thank you so much for this Jenny." Lily said as she smoothed out her daughters hair. "I hope they won't be took much trouble."

"Nonsense. We'll have a great time won't we kids." She called to the rambunctious children scattered around her living room. They all chorused back with cheered and laughter.

"Come and give us a kiss goodbye then." James laughed, and the children came rushing back to say goodbye to their parents. After hugs and kisses were exchanged all round, the group disappeared off to their dinner party, and Jenny was left with the children.

"Ok so shall we head down for dinner?" She asked the hungry children. The group of youngsters nodded eagerly. Jenny laughed and after adjusting Ava in her arms she beckoned for the children to leave her rooms. Once outside Sarah took hold of Jenny's free hand and her twin in the other. The boys walked on ahead of them so Jenny could see them. Once the group made it to the Great Hall the kids all hurried to their small table by the staff table as Jenny took a seat with them. She had decided she was going to sit with the kids tonight as she was going to have them all night anyway. Some of her students smiled at her as she passed and Jenny in turn smiled back. With both Albus and Minerva gone for the night, Filius Flitwick was in charge for the evening, and it was his called that began dinner. Jenny noticed that Severus was also missing from the staff table, which with half its staff gone anyway looked rather bare.

"Mummy says Uncle Sev is working on some really cool potion." Harry told his babysitter.

"Really?" The group nodded.

"That's why he couldn't look after us." Hannah informed her.

"I see. Well maybe we can send him a note asking if he wants to join us when he's finished." Jenny spoke to the children, who all excitedly nodded and began to discuss what they were going to write. Jenny smiled noticing that would keep the children busy till dinner was finished.

Once they had finished eating Jenny took the kids back to her rooms, where they sat and she wrote the note to Severus with the children dictating her every word, all insisting that they would sign their own names. Once she had made sure everyone had signed and after helping Ava sign her name, or more appropriately squiggle, Jenny added her own name to the letter with a small note to tell Severus to please come as it would please the kids to have their favourite uncle play with them for the night, she called out for one of the house elves Minerva had introduced her to, Dobby. The house elf had worked for the Potter's and when they moved to Hogwarts they bought him with them. He had been designated as Jenny's elf for her stay at the castle, something which had please the elf more than anything. He appeared with a pop.

"How can Dobby serve you Mistress Jenny?" Jenny smiled at the elf. She was still getting used to the whole idea of elves popping in and out do the castle all the time.

"Could you please take this note to Professor Snape Dobby? The children and I have written it for him and they will be very upset if he doesn't get it."

"Of course Mistress Jenny. Dobby is happy to serve." And with that the little elf took the note from his mistress and popped out as quickly as he had popped in.

Severus was working in his personal potions lab, making sure to finish the next batch of Remus's potions. He still had a few more left, but Severus knew that there were going to be 2 full moons next month, so the poor wolf would need all the help he could get. He had just added the last ingredient when he realised he had missed dinner, yet again. Lily and Alice were continuously moaning at him reminding him that he needed to eat more. He smiled at his memory, and called out to his personal house elf. The little elf popped in with a spark.

"Yes Master Snape, how can Twinky serve?" She seemed to be the only elf immune to Severus's glare.

"Can you bring me up some sandwiches, Mistresses Potter and Longbottom will kill me if they find out I've skipped dinner again." The little elf smiled and nodded.

"Yes master, Twinky is happy to serve." The little elf clicked her fingers and disappeared with another pop. Severus turned his attention back to his potion, it had turned to the right colour and a quick stir told him it was also the right constancy. Taking the vials he had already prepared, he filled them with the potion, and casting another spell to stop the vials from breaking, he stored them in his quarters ready to give to Remus the next time he saw him. It was at this point that Twinky popped back in with his dinner. Thanking the little elf as she popped out again, he settled himself down in his armchair with the latest copy of his potions text book. No sooner than Twinky disappeared, than another elf appeared in Severus's living room, this was Dobby; the elf that had been assigned to Jenny.

"Yes?" Severus asked. The elf shook a little. There weren't many people who liked Severus Snape, and even his demeanour scared the elves.

"Mistress Jenny and the children asked me to give you this Master Snape." Came his nervous reply. The little elf held out the note to which Severus took it.

"You can go now." Came Severus's curt reply. Dobby gave a little yelp and disappeared as quickly as the little creature could.

Severus smirked and opened the letter.

_To Uncle Severus, _

_Our mums and dads have gone out for dinner with Uncle Hunter and Aunt Isabelle and Auntie Jenny has said she would look after us. She says we can invite you to come and play with us if you want to. Mummy said that you were working on a very important potion, but could you please come and play with us, we promise to be good. _

_Love Harry, Neville, Sarah, Hannah, Teddy and Ava. _

Severus smiled at the children's letter. Each had sighed their own name. He didn't recognise the handwriting though. It was written by someone with excellent penmanship, he noticed, and in a fountain pen and not quill. It wasn't until he read the little message at the bottom that he realised who had written the message.

_Severus, I hope the kid's message was understood. Their parents have gone out for dinner and I have the pleasure of babysitting. Maddie said you were working on some sort of potion that might take a while, but if you finish early then I know the kids would love it if you came over. Bring a DVD or something, I'll provide the popcorn?! _

_Jenny_

Severus re-read the message again, noticing Jenny's friendly tone. She wasn't all bad, he had already decided. The young woman had a polite personality, and tried to interact with him when they saw each other. Since she had cornered him in the corridor and forced him to talk to her, there had been an unspoken civil friendship between the pair. Severus was still hung up on Rachel, Jenny could see that and it was something she didn't push. She seemed to understand his desire to have to know what happened to her, whether that was because she herself didn't know her own past, or whether she had also lost someone close to her since, Severus didn't know and he also didn't push it, but by offering her preverbal olive branch, she was extending to him an offer of friendship, something Severus didn't get offered much, at least not since Rachel disappeared. He twirled over her offer while he ate weighing up his options. Lily had told him that the dinner with Hunter and Isabelle was offered to him also, and he and Isabelle got on very well, as although she hadn't taken her studies any further, she had always been better than average when it came to potion making. The two could quite happily get into a discussion that could well last the whole dinner. Deciding to join the young woman and children for the evening, he finished up his diner, and called Twinky back to collect the plate, and to pass on his thanks to the elves for their wonderful cooking yet again.

"Uncle Severus!" Came the delighted cries of the 6 children as Jenny answered the door to her rooms later that evening. She smiled as she moved over to allow the wizard access to her home, and he was immediately set upon by the kids. Severus knelt to the floor as they jumped all over him. Jenny laughed at the sight. She had yet to sit in on one of Severus's classes, but from what she had heard from her own students and the whispers in the corridors, Severus was one of the strictest and meanest teachers on the faculty. He wasn't someone you would like to get on his bad side of; but looking at him now, rolling around the floor, laughing and playing with the kids, she honestly couldn't see how anyone could think Severus didn't have a heart. He loved those kids to death.

"Did you bring a film?"

"Auntie Jenny said we could watch a film."

"She said she was going to get the popcorn if you bought the film." Came the children's rapid calls. Severus chuckled.

"Well then," he replied pulling a DVD case from his pocket, Jenny strained her neck to see what it was. "I wonder what we have here." When the children saw the DVD and realised what it was, they all cheered. Severus turned his head and showed Jenny the DVD, she looked confused.

"Labyrinth?" She read the title. "I don't think I've seen that one before, is it any good?" The kids smiled.

When the Marauders returned homed that evening, they found Ava fast asleep in Severus's lap, who was sitting in one of Jenny's single armchairs, Neville, Teddy and Harry were curled up with each other on the other armchair, with Teddy sandwiched in the middle, both he and Neville were fast asleep, with Harry dozing. The twins Sarah and Hannah, were both sitting either side of Jenny on the sofa, each girl was snuggled tight into her both fast asleep, with a blanket wrapped around the three of them.

"Hi." Alice whispered as they entered the room. "Oh look at them all." She gushed looking at the children. "Did they behave all right?"

"They were all little angels." Jenny smiled.

"I see you came out of your cave then Sev." James laughed. Severus smirked.

"I was invited by your children by spend the evening watching a film and eating popcorn, I'll have you know." He retorted. The group laughed.

"Come on, we'd better get these ones to bed." Lily smiled reaching to take her daughter from Severus. Frank bent over and picked up his son, whilst Remus picked up Teddy, James took Harry and Sirius and Maddie took a daughter each.

"Thank you so much for this Jenny." Maddie sighed.

"Don't worry, I had a great time, and I hope the kids did too." She smiled getting up off the sofa.

With smiles and thanks all round from the parents, they took off into the night with their individual children. Jenny smiled as she closed the door behind the families, and turned to look at Severus, who had by now raised himself from his chair.

"Well." She said. He ran a hand through his hair. "Do you have to get back or...?" Jenny trailed off. Severus looked at her blankly. "I just thought," she explained. "If you didn't have anything else to do tonight, you could stay and watch another film or something. It's not that late." Severus glanced at the clock and realised she was right, and as much as he would normally make up an excuse and leave, he found himself suddenly not wanting to leave Jenny's company.

"No, I don't have anything I need to do. What were you thinking of watching?" He asked. Jenny simply smiled.

**So as you may have guessed my next chapter will be purely Severus and Jenny based. Hopefully this will be able to reveal more about Jenny and her quest to find her family, and more about Severus's desire to find Rachel. **

**As per the norm, please read and review, virtual cookies to anyone who does, thanks :)**

**Beth xx**


	15. Chapter 14

**Hello, so new day, new chapter. Please enjoy as per the normal. **

Chapter 14

"Anastasia?" Severus said with a disbelieving tone.

"Yeah, you never heard of it?" Jenny said still holding the DVD case whilst she knelt on the floor. Since Severus had agreed to stay and watch another film and since 'Labyrinth' was his choice, he proposed that Jenny chose their next film. Her choice thought, had him doubting this was a good idea.

"Wasn't she a Russian princess or something?" His mind told him. Jenny rolled her eyes.

"She was the daughter of Nicholas the second of Russia, she died when her family was killed by the Bolshevik secret police in 1918."  
"You know your history." He commented. She blushed.

"Well, when you don't know your own, you read as much about other's history as you can. That and the fact I love the film." She smiled. Severus laughed.

"I know it's a bit girly and a child's film, but I like it. We can watch something else if you don't want to." She compromised. Severus shook his head.

"No it's ok, if you like it we'll watch it." Jenny smiled at him, her mind was telling her to hug him, but she decided that might not be a good idea.

"Shame we haven't got any more popcorn." She lamented looking at the bowls the children had eagerly eaten.

"Who says we haven't?" Severus said, and with a raise of his wand, the biggest of the bowls re-filled itself, to a cheer from Jenny.

"I love magic." She cheered picking up the bowl after placing the DVD in her DVD player, and taking her seat again on the sofa. Severus began to walk back towards the chair he and Ava had been curled up in, when Jenny asked,

"Where do you think you're going? Come sit with me, there's more than enough room, then I don't have to keep throwing popcorn at you." She patted the seat next to her, and looked at Severus's befuzzled expression.

"I promise I won't try anything!" She smiled at him. Severus chuckled, and decided to himself 'why not' and took the seat next to Jenny.

It took Severus only about a quarter of the film for him to realise why Jenny liked it so much. The leading character Anya, suffered from memory loss. He kept glancing at the woman sitting next to him throughout the film, he noticed her mouthing along to the songs and often quoting part of the speech to herself, and when the ending rolled in, he swore he saw tears in her eyes.

"You ok?" He asked as the credits rolled on screen.

"Yeah, I'm ok." She wiped away the tears. "It always gets to me, the ending I mean, her finding her grandmother."

"Why do you watch it then, if it upsets you?"  
"It doesn't upset me, well not as much as it used to. In a way I guess it fills me with hope." Jenny lamented. Neither had noticed that throughout the film, the pair had gotten closer and closer until there were was barely any space between them. Jenny continued.

"Just after the Matthews found me, April, my sister and I, we were sitting in the living room and she suggested we watch a film. We picked 'Anastasia'. It wasn't until we got into the film, we realised what it actually was about, but we continued to watch it, and by the end I was sure one day I'd find my family. I know it seems silly, to think that just because a fictional film can get a happy ending, doesn't mean I will, but it gave me hope." Jenny smiled up at Severus. His eyes meeting hers, and she felt at once safe and happy, like she'd found someone who understood her.

"I get that." He said. "Have you ever come close to finding them?" He asked. Jenny nodded.

"Once. This older couple they thought I was their granddaughter. Their only son had a child with an old girlfriend, but they didn't find out about her until both the son and the girlfriend had died. So when they met me, they put dates together and realised that I could be their granddaughter, but a DNA test ruled it out."

Jenny had tears in her eyes again. Severus pulled her close and hugged her before he could realise what he was doing. Suddenly he felt like he had Rachel back in his arms, Jenny's body seemed to fit perfectly within his own, and her smell and feel in his arms, through him back to the night of the leavers ball, the last time he had seen Rachel. He felt her tears dropping onto his shirt, and her sniffling was muffled by his close hold of her.

"It's ok." He said trying to sooth her. Eventually his words and soft rubbing on her back had the desired effect, and her crying subsided.

"Sorry." She mumbled. Removing her head from Severus's chest. Her eyes were red, and her nose was running. Severus smiled gently and pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and passed it to her. She smiled a grateful thank you, and blew her nose.

"Tell me about her." She asked a little while later. She was still being hugged in Severus's strong hold, neither willing to admit that it was making them feel better. He looked at her.

"Rachel." She clarified. "Tell me about her. I know how Lily and the others feel, but I want to know what she was to you. I know you loved her, and you still do, but I want an honest opinion of her, and feel like you're the best person to ask." Severus felt his memories come to the fore front of his mind, and wondered to himself what the best answer to give the young woman was. Finally he came to a conclusion.

"Rachel wanted nothing more than to help people. She was funny, smart, loving and caring, without being stuck up and mean at the same time. She was powerful, extremely powerful, in both her magic and who she was. She would always spend time with people who needed her help, even if they didn't realise it. I never thought she would feel for me the way I felt for her, but when she agreed to go out with me, it felt like all my birthdays and Christmases had come at once. " He spoke so passionately about the woman he loved, that Jenny could see the passion in his eyes.

"She sounds like a wonderful girl." She spoke. Severus smiled and chuckled.

"Yeah she was." Jenny noticed without realising it, Severus had said 'was' in his way of talking about Rachel. She decided not to correct him, for he was always the one insisting that Rachel was still alive.

A little while later Dobby appeared in Jenny's quarters to collect the bowls and to clean up the mess the children had left. The quarters were silent and empty. Once Dobby entered the living room however he spotted Jenny and Severus both curled up with each other on the sofa, fast asleep. The pair looked like a couple curled up together. Deciding to leave the cleaning to the next day, he disappeared from the room, leaving the two to their sleep.

**Ok so a shorter chapter this time, I haven't been working on this story as much as I would like to be. Christmas in retail is the worst time to work in retail, as far as I am concerned. I don't think I have stopped lately. Hopefully things will begin to slow down as we get closer to the big day. (I hope *crosses fingers*)**

**As always please read and review, and I'll hopefully post again soon. **

**Beth xx**


	16. Chapter 15

**Hello. I know it has been a while, and for that I apologise. As most of you have probably seen in the news, music legend David Bowie died this week. If you have stuck with me through both 'Sisters of Magic' and 'Finding Magic' you will have guessed by now that I was a fan his. I was really shocked to hear about his death, and my thoughts go to his family and friends at what can only be a difficult time for them. **

Chapter 15

Monday rolled around quicker than Jenny would have liked. When she awoke on the sofa with a very stiff neck on the Saturday morning, she had still been snuggled up in Severus's arms. For a moment she had forgotten where she was and enjoyed the feeling of being held by a strong man. Then she shifted and woke him up. To say he had been embarrassed had been an understatement; Severus had bolted from her quarters quicker than she had ever seen a man run, and had avoided her completely for the whole weekend. Today however they would have to face each other. Severus was teaching a fifth year potions class third period, and Jenny would be sitting in on it. She had already sat in on one of Alice's Herbology classes, and James had taken her on a tour of the castle by broom. Remus had offered her a seat in his next class, which happened to be on the following Thursday night, and Maddie and Lily had volunteered to show her what it was like to work in the hospital wing whenever she wanted. Jenny would be joining Minerva's forth year class on Wednesday after her own class with them, and the other staff members were constantly offering her seats in their own classes when it suited her. Severus's class however was the one Jenny had most being looking forward to. From what she had hear from the students both in the corridors and in her lessons, Severus was a master when it came to potions. There wasn't much he couldn't make, and although he was absolutely terrifying to the students, there was no doubt in her mind, that she would learn an awful lot more about himself as a person, though he teachings. Now however she wasn't so sure she wanted to go into the class.

During breakfast, Severus sat as far away from Jenny as he could get. Something Narcissa picked up on almost instantly.

"Has something happened between you two?" She asked when Jenny, again trying to catch Severus's gaze, failed and sighed again.

"What?" She asked as Narcissa pulled her from her worries.

"Severus," She whispered so no-one could hear them, "Has something happened with you and Severus? He hasn't left his quarters since Friday night, apart from his patrol with Lucius on Saturday, and he said that Severus was so moody and quiet, he would have preferred to patrol with Sibyl Trelawney." She murmured. Jenny sighed.

"Nothing, I babysat for the others on Friday night and Severus joined us. He stayed after the kids got picked up and we watched another film together." Narcissa smirked and raised an eyebrow. Jenny glared at her. "Nothing happened! We watched a film, we talked, and then..." She trailed off. That got Narcissa's attention.

"And then what?" She all but squeaked a whisper. Jenny looked around and noticing nobody was really paying any attention to her, she bent closer and whispered in the woman's ear.

"We ended up falling asleep on each other on the sofa. We woke up in the same position on Saturday and he ran out on me." Narcissa's eyes were a blaze when Jenny pulled back and looked at her. Without warning, she stood up from her seat, pulled Jenny up with her, and hurried out the back door to the Great Hall pulling Jenny along with her.

"Narcissa where are we going?" Jenny called to the woman as she stumbled trying to keep both her balance, and the same speed as the woman. Eventually Narcissa found an old store room, and pulled the two of them inside it.

"I have a class first thing." Jenny complained.

"Well tough. I want details." Narcissa gave a cocky smile. Jenny had had her pegged as a gossip from the moment she had met the blonde witch.  
"There's nothing to tell, we just talked."

"And then slept with each other." She cried out.

"We fell asleep on each other, we did not sleep together." She clarified, but Narcissa was having none of it.

"Do you like him?" Jenny felt like a schoolgirl being interrogated about a crush.

"What?"  
"Do you like Severus?" Narcissa said in a slower tone trying desperately to make a point.

"Narcissa, I am fond of Severus yes," Narcissa went for another squeal, but Jenny covered her mouth. "But as a friend nothing more." Jenny turned on her heels and hurried out of the classroom before she could be interrogated any further. Narcissa gave a knowing smirk.

"We'll see, we'll see." She chuckled.

Once Jenny had finished her first period class, she decided to spend her next lesson marking the homework. She was about three quarters of the way through the hour when she finished, and spend the next 15 minutes worrying about Severus and how he would react. She was hoping and praying he wouldn't have forgotten that she was due to sit in on his class otherwise that could be very awkward, well more awkward than the situation already was.

In his lab Severus was watching his students finishing their potions. His next class was his fifth years, and Jenny would be sitting in on the class. His scowl deepened. Since waking up snuggled together on her sofa on Saturday morning, he had avoided her like the plague. And now he was going to have to spend a whole hour in her company, watching him as he taught, questioning his every action, it was enough to make him go crazy. He hated to admit it, but there had been something nice about waking up with someone lying with him on Saturday. Just the feel of another person next to him, for a moment he was able to believe that Rachel had never been missing, that she was in fact snuggled up to him. He wouldn't admit it but he was awake before Jenny had moved, her moving had only made him realise that this wasn't Rachel he was currently spooning with on her sofa. He ran a hand through his hair and glanced at his watch. Only 15 minutes to go before Jenny would be arriving. This was going to be a long lesson.

The beginning of third period found Jenny standing with some of her students outside the potions lab. The students were asking her questions to which Jenny was more than happy to answer when they immediately stopped talking and Jenny could guess why. She turned to find Severus Snape standing right behind her, a scowl plastered on his face. She wouldn't have been afraid to admit the look was terrifying, but in front of the students she had to put on a brave face.

"Good morning Professor Snape."  
"Good morning Miss Matthews." He said in his monotone voice. Jenny couldn't believe her eye and ears, the man standing in front of her was nothing like she had seen him before.

"I trust you remembered I was sitting in on your lesson this morning?"  
"Naturally." He replied again sending a shiver down Jenny's spine. "Well?" He turned to the students. "To your seats!" He bellowed sending a class full of children scurrying to their chairs.

"You will sit at my desk." He spoke to Jenny. She swallowed and nodded, not trusting her voice.

"Now class, you will have the pleasure of Miss Matthews sitting in on our lesson today. I expect you to treat her with the same respect as you would normally show her. You will also answer any of her questions, is that understood?"

"Yes professor." The class chorused. Jenny tried desperately not to stare at the class when they answered their professor. It was all so military.

"Today we will be brewing the Draught of Peace, page 95 in your text books. Set up your caldrons and once you have gathered your ingredients you may begin. You have one hour." Lily had leant Jenny her old copy of her fifth year potions textbook, and Jenny joined the students reading the list of ingredients for the Draught of Peace. She noticed out of the corner of her eye students paring up and hurrying to collect the ingredients from the shelves dotted on one side of the room. She also noticed one of the students was on his own. She recognised him as one of her fifth year Ravenclaw students Harrison Clearwater. Severus also noticed Harrison was alone.

"Mr Clearwater, where is your partner?"  
"I'm sorry Sir, Louisa didn't feel very well yesterday, Madam Black is keeping her in the hospital wing with a fever." Jenny remembered hearing something from Maddie's direction at breakfast about having a girl with a fever under her care at that time, it must have been Louisa. Luckily Severus seemed to have remembered it too.

"Well then, it seems you are a partner down." He stated turning his head towards Jenny. "You can work with Miss Matthews then." He said with a smug smirk. Jenny felt all the eyes in the classroom fall onto her.

"I thought I was here to observe only Professor?" She replied. Severus glared at her.

"The best way to learn is through doing." He snapped. Jenny bit her tongue as so she didn't retaliate. He wasn't going to get one over on her.

"Very well then, if that's going to be alright with you Harrison?" She smiled past Severus blanking him out. 'Two can play at this game.' She thought.

"Sure." Harrison quickly replied. Jenny smiled at Severus as she walked past him to join Harrison, but as she didn't she couldn't resist leaning in to Severus and whispering in his ear.

"Lighten up Severus, maybe you need to take some of the potion; relieve that agitation you seem to be stuck with." Although none of the students heard what she said, the look of thunder on Severus's face was evident that she had succeeded in winding him up. They were in for a horrible lesson.

Harrison and Jenny proved to be quiet a team to face. Whilst Harrison set their cauldron, Jenny began setting their ingredients in the order they would need to be used to make things easier for them. She began on Harrison's instructions to crush the moonstone he had gathered for the first ingredient, powdered moonstone. Splitting the moonstone into thirds, since the potion required three separate doses, Harrison added the first batch and began to stir the potion 7 times to achieve the required colour change. Adding more moonstone to change the colour again, Harrison kept an eye on the potion whilst Jenny focused on the next ingredient Hellebore, which luckily had to go in all at once. Jenny noticed Severus wandering around the room peering in on others on his rounds, he looked at their potions and simply grunted. Jenny paid no attention to him and carried on with the ingredients. Whilst the porcupine quills needed to be shaken before split for three doses, she and Harrison decided to switch, and Jenny took over control of the cauldron. Following the instructions again, Harrison added the quills until the potion changed from a purple colour to a blood red, when Jenny took over immediately stirring until it changed again to an orange colour. She heard groans from other pairs indicating that their potions were doing what they were supposed to be doing, Jenny heard Severus sigh as he continued his rounds, and couldn't help a smirk grace over her face. 'Serves him right'. She thought. The pair continued to add more porcupine quills changing the potion again to turquoise, before simmering and changing again. Jenny gave control of the potion back to Harrison and began to crush up the last ingredient on the list powdered unicorn's horn. They added the correct amounts and watched as the colour changed again. "This potion has more colour changes than a rainbow." Jenny couldn't help but remark. Harrison chuckled.  
"At least we know we're getting it right Miss." He joked back. Jenny had to agree with him. Harrison quiet liked working with Jenny, she was willing to learn and not afraid to ask him why he was adding something at the right stages and what effect this would have on the potion. He was beginning to think she would have made a brilliant Ravenclaw. After adding more powdered moonstone, and simmering again, the potion changed yet again, and finally they were able to add the last ingredient, and left the potion to simmer. The textbook said that if brewed correctly the potion would be white, and would emit a silvery vapour. The duo watched as their potion emitted the exact vapour it was supposed to. Jenny couldn't resist giving Harrison a high-five, and the muggleborn student laughed as he smacked hands with his teacher.

Severus was over the other side of the room when he heard the clapping of Jenny and Harrison's hands. He looked over at their potion, and noticed that it seemed to be the right consistency and giving off the correct vapour, which couldn't be said for a couple of other potions. One was the same consistency as glue, another was pure Slytherin green and wouldn't change no matter what they students did to try and fix it, another seemed to be smoking a blue vapour. Severus quickly evaporated the offending potion before it decided to explode as he knew full well it would.

"I see you have finished Mr Clearwater, Miss Matthews." He remarked coming over to Jenny and Harrison's work station.

"Yes sir." Harrison said.

"Well bottle it then." He snarled, giving Harrison two vials. Harrison gulped and quickly filled the two vials he had been given.

"What do you think professor?" Jenny couldn't help but add. "Not bad for a first try eh." She said smugly. Severus took both vials but labelled only one with Harrison and Jenny's names. The other he held onto and smiled quiet wickedly.

"You seem very assured with yourself Miss Matthews." He said turning to face Jenny. The entire room was now staring at the two professor's squaring off against each other in the middle of the room. Although Severus was taller than Jenny, she was standing her ground, and most of the students were silently routing for the strong willed woman to win the battle between herself and the Slytherin bat. Severus held out the potion to her.

"Care to prove how confident you are Miss Matthews?" There was a collective gasp from the classroom. If Jenny and Harrison had brewed the potion wrong, one sip could prove fatal for the young teacher, and Jenny knew that. Harrison went completely pale. If Jenny drank the potion and died, he would have killed his teacher. That sort of thing wouldn't be good for his future. The students expected Jenny to back down and admit defeat, however they couldn't be more wrong.

"Ok then, what's the wager?" She squared up to Severus again. The classroom gasped.

"You brewed it correctly you don't die." Severus said bluntly.

"And when I prove you wrong, you admit we did a good job, sound fair?" Jenny retaliated. Severus felt the veins in his neck standing out. Merlin this woman was so irritating. She wouldn't back down from a fight, kinda like another witch he knew. He simply held out the vial. Jenny took it to a chorus of "No Miss", and "Don't do it Miss", and downed the potion in one without even blinking. For a good few minutes there was silence. Most were getting ready to run out of the room to get help if the worst should happen. Jenny simply wiped her lips and handed the vial back to Severus. The bell rang to signal the end of the lesson, but the students kept to their seats staring intently at their two professors none of them wanting to leave. After about 5 minutes Jenny let her smile widen. Both she and Severus knew that if the potion had been brewed incorrectly she would have dropped down dead instantly, yet she was still standing and glaring at Severus.

"Well Professor Snape, don't you have something to say to myself and Mr Clearwater?" Harrison stared at the floor.

"Hmm," Severus grunted. "I suppose you did alright." The students couldn't believe their ears. Severus Snape had never congratulated students on correctly brewing a potion ever, yet here Jenny Matthews was, not even a witch, and she had single handily managed to get the dungeon bat to admit that she and another student had made a potion correctly, and it was able to be drunk. Jenny could feel the anxiety lifting from her body more and more each second. Her smile grew wider and wider.

"Thank you Professor." She said with a gleeful tint to her voice, before thanking Harrison for helping her and answering her questions, before turning on her heels and storming from the classroom.

"Please tell me that the rumours aren't true Severus!" Minerva whispered to Severus that night at dinner. Jenny had yet to arrive and Minerva was in two minds about whether to go and find her to make sure she was all right. Jenny squaring up to Severus and drinking the potion was the talk of the school. A minority of the students thought she was stupid, but most were thinking of how courageous she was.

"Do you want the truth or shall I lie to you Minerva?" Severus hissed back confirming Minerva's suspicions. He was still in a back mood, and Jenny's embarrassing display had only pushed that mood deeper.

"Severus! She could have died!" Some of the other teachers had heard the rumours going around the school and with Severus's admission hanging in the air, were seeing their Muggle colleague with a greater admiration. Lily, Alice, Maddie and Tonks were scowling at Severus as he waited for dinner, and even the men were giving him funny looks. The doors opened suddenly and in stepped the woman the entire school was talking about, the students simply stared; trying to see if she was suffering any ill effects from the potion, but Jenny seemed to be walking on air as if she had no cares in the world. She was rewarded with a gigantic round of applause from the entire student body, and a few whistles thrown in.

"Well done Miss!"

"Bloody good show Miss!"

"You put him in his place right Miss!" Jenny smiled wider and wider. A sharp look from Minerva though shut the students up pretty quickly.

"Jenny dear what were you thinking?" Minerva scowled as Jenny took her seat.

"Are you alright dear, do you want me to have a look at you?" Poppy added with a worried tone. Jenny simply took Poppy's hand.

"Thank you for worrying, but honestly I'm fine. In fact I've never felt better." She added in Severus's direction. Severus's scowl grew deeper and he turned his gaze away from the table.

"Bloody woman!" He mumbled to himself. She was so stubborn and irritating, he wondered how on earth he was going to get through the rest of the term with her. But in that minute, he couldn't help but think of how much she had resembled Rachel. What had happened in the classroom today, he standing up to him, drinking the potion, proving him wrong, he had no doubt in his mind, that if Rachel had been in the same position, she would have done exactly the same thing.

"Bloody bloody woman!" He mumbled again.

**And another chapter finished. I really enjoyed this chapter, I think hopefully I captured Severus quiet well it was nice to write him as a snarky bastard for a bit. Here's hoping you all agree with me. :)**

**As normal please read and review, and I'll try and post another chapter soon. (Two chapters from two stories in one day, aren't you all lucky)**

**Beth xx**


	17. Chapter 16

**Hi, so I've been working on this chapter for a while now, and I know it's not Christmas anymore, but in this chapter Christmas has hit Hogwarts. Hope you enjoy :)**

Chapter 16

Christmas was fast approaching Hogwarts School. The ground was beginning to become coated with a thick white layer of snow, and the weather was turning bitterly cold. Jenny and most of the children of the school were excited for Christmas to arrive, but Jenny had her apprehensions too. She had spent her Christmases with the Matthews every year, but she wasn't sure if that tradition was going to continue this year. She had asked to speak to Albus about going home for the holidays but so far either he or she had been too busy to sit down and talk. Jenny had already heard some of the Marauders plans for Christmas, and it was obvious that Lily was planning a big family Christmas and Jenny was the guest of honour. This had made her feel uneasy, she hadn't got any memories of Lily and other back, often she got flashes of children playing at the castle, but she couldn't tell if one of the children was her. It was almost like her brain had turned into a sieve. She could see small flashes of her past, but all the big parts were being held back just out of her reach.

So Jenny found herself standing outside Albus's office on Saturday afternoon a few weeks before the end of term. She knew it was now or never. Her brothers had asked if she wanted to collect the children from school on the last day of term to surprise them, and Jenny desperately wanted to say yes, but until she was sure she was coming home, she couldn't agree to anything. Albus had charmed the statue guarding his office to recognise Jenny so it would open for her and her only. Gently she knocked onto the old wooden door, and heard a familiar voice from within.

"Come in Jennifer." She pushed open the door and stepped inside, spotting the elderly man sitting behind his desk.

"How can I help you?" He asked, his eyes twinkling at her from behind his glasses. Suddenly Jenny found she couldn't speak. Her voice had disappeared and her mouth had become very dry. Albus chuckled.

"Can I assume that your being here has something to do with Christmas, and your desire to go back to Cornwall?" Still unable to speak Jenny nodded. The twinkling in his eyes remained as he locked his gaze with Jenny, before turning his attention to the windows in his office and watched the snow falling.

"I am to assume that you haven't mentioned your desire to go back to Cornwall to anyone else?"

"No." Jenny said finding her voice. "Lily has been planning a big family Christmas, but I wouldn't feel right being there. You know without my memories and all." Jenny trailed off. Albus raised himself from his desk and joined Jenny, placing an arm on her shoulders turning her to face him gaze to gaze.

"Jennifer, don't let anyone else influence your decisions in life. If you want to go back to Cornwall for Christmas, then you have my permission." Jenny's eyes widened.

"I can? You're not joking me?" Jenny hadn't seen her family face to face since she left Cornwall in the summer. Albus laughed and shook his head.

"We have very little students staying here over the holidays Jenny, so if you want to go back, I don't see any reason why you can't." Jenny launched herself as Albus and threw her arms around the wizard, thanking him over and over again.

The day before the Hogwarts students were due to go home, Jenny was sitting in the staff room with a small suitcase by her feet with clothes for her trip home, and another bag with the presents for her family she had managed to acquire during her time at Hogwarts. Most of her presents had been ordered online, and had been delivered to her parents' home for safe keeping. Lily and the others hadn't been too happy when they had discovered Jenny wouldn't be at the castle for Christmas, and would be back with her family in Cornwall. Lily had moaned till Jenny had threatened to slap her, which had shut Lily up very quickly. Minerva had kindly volunteered to apperate her and Lola home, and Jenny had promised the woman a box of homemade cakes as a thank you. Jenny was sitting in one of the chairs Lola resting at her feet, when the dogs ears pricked up and Jenny realised that there was someone else in the room with her. She raised her head from her book, and found Alice and Maddie standing in the doorway with the children around them. Harry and Neville carried a present between the two of them.

"This is for you Aunt Jenny." Sarah and Hannah chorused. The boys presented the gift to Jenny, her eyes welled up with tears.

"Oh you little sweethearts, you didn't need to get me anything."

"They just wanted to do something nice for you." Maddie replied.

"Oh you little darlings." Jenny said, standing from the chair and gesturing for the children to join her in a hug. The children smiled and launched themselves at their newest auntie. Alice, who held Ava, laughed as the child in her arms squirmed to be released and to join in the hug. She let her go and Ava hurried over to her friends. Jenny spotted her approaching, laughed and picked her up and swung her around.

"Will Father Christmas know where you are Aunt Jenny? Otherwise you won't get any presents." Harry asked.

"Don't worry about me. I'm sure Father Christmas will be able to find me wherever I am. He has magic after all." Jenny smiled at those children. "And I've left all your presents with your mummies and daddy's." The children cheered and hugged their aunt again.

"Are you going to open your present now Aunt Jenny?" The girls chorused.

"Now!" Ava added determinedly. The adults laughed.

"Well I don't know, should I open my Christmas present before Christmas?" Jenny asked knowing full well the answer she would get from the children.

"Yes!" They all chorused together. Jenny laughed and took the present from Harry and Neville's outstretched hands. The wrapping was quickly removed and Jenny felt tears coming to her eyes at what she saw. It was a photo frame containing a picture of Jenny and the children during one of her first days at the castle. They were all smiling at laughing at the camera. She was astounded when the photo began to move, and with a happy delight she discovered it was a magical picture playing the scene over and over again like a home movie.

"Now you can show your other family what we look like." Neville piped in quietly.

"It's charmed so that it will only move in your presences alone. If you have guests it will remain a still picture." Maddie explained to Jenny.

"Do you like?" Teddy asked.

"Yes sweeties I love it so much." Jenny replied hugging the children tightly again as if she didn't want to let go.

"Come on darlings, we need to go now, Jenny needs to wait for Auntie Minerva." Alice told the children. With tears in their eyes the children kissed their aunt goodbye, once and only once Jenny had promised she would be back just after New Year for the new term.

"Oh good we caught you. I had hoped you hadn't left yet?" Narcissa's voice came calling soon after the children had left. Jenny smiled as she saw the woman and her son enter the room. Draco smiled a wide beam when he spotted her and hurried to hug her. Jenny laughed and picked him up as he ran into her arms. Narcissa smiled at the sight of her son's display of affection for the muggle woman. Draco was a shy child who didn't have many friends. Since the Malfoys had left the dark lords service, they had been snubbed by almost every pure blood family who would have once called them friends. Andromeda Tonks however had been delighted to have her younger sister back in her life, and the two sisters were once again getting on like a house on fire; the same couldn't be said for Narcissa and her niece's young family.

"Don't worry." Jenny's voice interrupted hr musings. "Minerva said she might be a bit of time, she's got a few things to sort out. My family aren't expecting me till tomorrow anyway. Have you asked Santa for anything Draco? Have you been a good boy?" The child nodded his response.

"Mummy says Santa might bring me a new broom if I was very good."

"Draco." Narcissa warned. Draco was mad on flying. Jenny laughed and put him back on the floor, and reached for her present bag.

"I meant to give this to Santa for you, but I seemed to keep missing him, would you like your present now Draco?" The little boy's eyes widened.

"Can I mummy? Please!" He begged. Narcissa smiled at her sons begging face. She could never say no to him, why start now?

"Just this one darling." Draco squealed with delight and took the brightly wrapped gift from Jenny, thanking her as he did.

"Thank you Auntie Jenny!" Draco hugged her once he finished unwrapping his gift.

"What is it Draco?" Narcissa asked.

"I hope you don't mind, it's a muggle game. It's called a rubix cube, you have to twist the sides until you can get all the sides full of the same colour. Draco," Jenny addressed the little boy. "Your challenge is to have it completed when I get back, ok?" She had noticed Draco was an exceptionally inquisitive little child and the rubix cube seemed like a perfect present.

"I will Auntie Jenny I promise." Draco told her with a determined look. Jenny could see he was already starting to think about the puzzle and how he could solve it. Narcissa pulled a package from her pocket and enlarged it with her wand before presenting it to Jenny.

"This is from all of us. It's just a little something." She mumbled as she passed it over. Jenny thanked the woman as she put the gift in her bag ready to open on Christmas Day. She had given her gifts for the children to their parents already, but had left little gifts for the adults with Minerva who had promised to distribute them on Christmas Day to their respective recipients.

"Well I see you have been saying your goodbyes." Minerva laughed from the doorway. Jenny and Narcissa joined in the laugher.

Once safely back in Cornwall, Jenny wished Minerva a happy Christmas and once the woman had disappeared she set about getting everything placed under her tree. Jenny guessed correctly that her mother had come over while she was away to decorate Jenny's little home for Christmas, there was already a few presents under the tree all addressed to Jenny and Lola. Jenny added her gift from the Malfoys to the pile, and placed her photo on her bookshelf where she could always see it. Lola had taken to curling up on the sofa while Jenny set about getting her dinner ready. Once she had eaten and packed away the dirty dishes, she took a quick shower and turned in for an early night.

The next afternoon Jodie, Lois and Ben were waiting at their school for their lift home. They had been promised a special visitor would pick them up, and all three were waiting anxiously to see who that might be.

"I bet its Grandma and Grandad." Lois guessed.

"Daddy said it would be one person not two stupid." Ben scolded his sister.

"Ben it's not nice to call someone stupid." Their teacher told him, quickly he apologised. Suddenly the trio heard a dog barking and all turned to spot Jenny coming through the gates to the school.

"AUNTIE JENNY!" Came their deafening cries. They all rushed from the waiting spot in the playground and rushed as fast as their legs would carry them to the arms of there waiting auntie.

"Oh darlings I've missed you so much." Jenny squealed wrapping her arms around them in an awkward four way hug. Lola left up on her hind legs and began barking and jumping in the children's direction.

"Are you home for Christmas?"

"When did you get back?"

"Are you going away again?" Came the questioning all at once. Jenny laughed and held out her hands.

"One at a time. Yes I'm home for Christmas, I got home yesterday, and I'm not going anywhere until the New Year." She answered, causing the children to squeal again and they all leapt back at her hugging her tightly again. A few of the students and parents who had known Jenny before she went away smiled at the sights and offered their welcome homes to the young woman and her family.

"Will you be at the party tonight Miss Matthews?" Asked one child Jenny recognised as being one of her old students.

"Why yes, do you know I'd forgotten about that completely."

Each me every year around Christmas time, the locals would all gather in the town square and celebrate the dawn of the Christmas holidays. The shops would stay open late, there would be live music, mince pies by the gallon, and if they were very lucky Father Christmas would make a quick stop off before he had to rush back to the North Pole to finish getting ready for Christmas Day. Jenny had assumed that she had missed the tradition this year and so it hadn't been on her mind, but now word of her return would get around the village faster than wild fire, she knew she would quiet possibly be inundated with questions by everyone and anyone at the party.

Just as she had predicted Jenny was set upon by the majority of the village's occupants once they spotted her and the Matthews at the party that evening. Part of Jenny was missing Hogwarts and the staff, but the other part of her was just happy to be home. A lot of the children from her old school were asking her if she would come back and be their teacher again. Jenny felt tears prick her eyes.

'Would this be what it would be like?' She thought to herself. 'If I find out who I am, would I have to choose between my old life and the new one I have created here?' Luckily the arrival of Santa distracted most of the children, and so Jenny was able to sneak to the back of the crowds.

"Now," came the booming voice of Santa, (or Mr Jeffries the local butcher Jenny discovered) "I hear someone in this village has been away for a bit." Jenny's ears pricked up.

"Miss Matthews has!" Came the children's chorusing. It was obvious to Jenny this had been a set up by some of the adults to welcome her home.

"Well then," came Santa again, "where is she now?"

"Over here Santa!" April (who was standing with Jenny) called out over the crowd. Jenny tried to hide her face, but it was no good. April pretty much dragged her up to the stage, and she was forced up the steps and planted next to Santa.

'At least they haven't made me sit on his knee.' Jenny monologues internally. Santa smiled at her clearly with an apology.

"Well then," he called out "I've been asked to make sure you see your surprise Miss Matthews." He smiled at Jenny. She had always liked the elderly man, and she also had no doubt that Joan and her sister were behind the surprise. Santa gestured over towards Joan's cafe, where Oscar and Jake held up a huge banner, with the words 'Welcome Home Jenny!' written on it in big, bold and colourful letters. This time Jenny couldn't stop the tears from falling. Even if she did find her memories again, there was no way she could leave the village and its occupants behind.

**And voila! I promise next chapter we will be back at Hogwarts, and the real hard work begins. We are defiantly over half way through the story now, and Jenny's memories will be getting stronger over the next few chapters, till we reach a point which Jenny has to decide who she is and what she wants. **

**As normal, (I'm sure by now you can all repeat this) please read and review, and I'll be posting another chapter of Finding Magic soon, and for those of you who read Daughter: Lost and Found, my next chapter will be up this weekend. **

**Happy reading, **

**Beth xx**


	18. Chapter 17

**Hello. How are we all? So my day off, and a new chapter to be posted. **

Chapter 17

Christmas had come and past, and the New Year was fast approaching. Jenny had promised the children she would come back to the castle on the 1st of January, so she could spend the last day of the year with her family. Minerva had volunteered to go and collect Jenny from Cornwall and bring her back to the castle. Once the New Year's celebrations had finished, Minerva departed to collect their newest colleague, and she was descended upon by the children when she returned.

"Auntie Jenny!"  
"Did Santa bring you any presents?"

"Did you miss us?"  
"Are you staying for good now?" Came the chorusing of the children. Jenny simply smiled and knelt down to hug them all in a large and rather squashed group hug.  
"Hello darlings, yes I had a lovely Christmas, and yes Santa did bring me some lovely presents but yours was the best present I received." She said with a smile. The children smiled and the hug continued.

Once the children arrived back at school, their lessons continued as normal, with the emphasis now being on the exams they would face before they left for the summer. Since Jenny was only teaching the third through to fifth years, she only had 2 classes which would be taking major exams that year. That didn't mean however she let the rest of her students slack off. One class in particular caught Jenny's attention. It was her third year Gryffindor and Slytherin combined class. The students in the lesson hadn't changed much over the holidays. They greeted her with smiles and 'how was your Christmas Miss?' To which Jenny answered truthfully. One of the students in the class however caught her eye.

For a few weeks Jenny paid close attention to this particular student, third year Gryffindor Chloe Harris. Jenny knew from word from other professors, along with what she had heard in lessons that Chloe was a muggleborn student, raised in Bristol. She had no brothers or sisters and lived with her mother who was a housewife, and her father who was builder for a big firm where they lived. Chloe wasn't the most talkative of her students, and her small built body meant she found it easy to melt into the crowds. To put it mildly, Chloe was shy. Jenny couldn't help but notice however, that Chloe's actions since Christmas, and just before now she thought about it, were out of character for the girl.

"Chloe?" Jenny called out at the end of one of her lessons. The girl raised her head to her teacher.

"Yes Miss?"

"Would you be able to stay behind for a few minutes, I just want to talk to you about your homework." The other students looked at Chloe, and Jenny was sure she heard a few of the Slytherin's sniggering and laughing.

"Yes Miss." Chloe mumbled. She returned to her seat as the other students piled out to their next lesson.

"You can relax Chloe, you're not in any trouble." Jenny tried to make the girl feel better. Chloe didn't answer. She stared at the desk.

"Chloe, ever since Christmas your homework and your classwork has declined a little. Is everything ok with you? You're not bullied or anything are you?" Chloe said nothing. Jenny perched on the desk by Chloe. She looked at the young brunette. Chloe made no movement to acknowledge Jenny's presence.  
"Chloe, you can talk to me." Jenny placed a hand on the girls shoulder, and it was then she noticed the tears in Chloe's eyes.  
"Oh sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"I miss them Miss." Chloe quietly stuttered.

"Oh darling." Jenny said, taking Chloe into her arms and letting the girl cry. Jenny had suddenly remembered something Minerva had mentioned the other week about a student who had lost her parents before Christmas. But since the conversation wasn't with Jenny, and since she had only heard it in passing, she hadn't paid too much attention.

For a while the two simply sat in the classroom, the younger student sobbing into her teachers shoulder. Jenny softly patted the girl on the back, and made soothing noises to try and calm her down.

"Come on now Chloe, we need to stop these tears." Chloe sniffed and slowly removed her head from Jenny.

"Sorry Miss." She mumbled.

"You have nothing to apologise for Chloe, nothing at all. Why didn't you say you having trouble? What happened over Christmas?"

"My mum's friend said I could stay with her, but it was weird. She had her family with her and I felt a third wheel."

"Oh honey. Why didn't you stay at the castle?"  
"I wanted to go home." Jenny had a sudden thought.

"What's going to happen when you go home for the summer?" Chloe looked like she was going to cry again.  
"I don't know. I could go back to my aunt's I suppose, but I don't know if that's what I want. If I don't I guess the only place I could go would be foster care."

Jenny couldn't believe what she was hearing.  
"Couldn't you stay here?" She asked.  
"I don't know." Chloe simply stated, looking back at the desk. Jenny took the girl back into her arms.

"Hey, let me to talk to Dumbledore ok, see if I can come up with something. If in doubt maybe you could spend the summer with me?" Jenny smiled.

"Really?" Chloe said with surprise. "I could stay with you?" Chloe had liked her teacher from her first lesson with her, and to have her saying she could possibly stay with her, Chloe couldn't believe that anyone would do that for her.  
"Yes. If you really don't want to go to your aunts, then it would be no trouble for you to stay with me." Chloe smiled through her tears and hugged her teacher again.  
"Oh thank you Miss that would be amazing." Jenny smiled.

"You are more than welcome Chloe."

**Ok so only a short chapter this time, just to introduce Chloe more than anything. She won't play a huge part in this story, but I do have plans for her for the final story in this trilogy. Hope you all are well, and I'll have another chapter up soon. **

**Happy reading, and your reviews are more than welcome :)**

**Beth xxx**


	19. Chapter 18

**Hello. How are we all? I apologise for the lateness for my chapter, work got in the way. **

Chapter 18

It was late on a Friday evening which found Jenny in her pyjamas, surrounded by Alice, Maddie, Lily and Tonks in Lily's quarters; their husbands had decided to spend the evening with Remus during his transformation, and so Lily had taken it upon herself to keep Tonks company. This had soon turned into a girl's only sleepover. The children had been more than happy to spend the evening with their honorary grandpa Albus, and Minerva had taken it upon herself to keep an eye on not only the children, but Albus as well; he was the biggest kid of the lot! Jenny had automatically been included in the group, and had also been told the truth about Remus and his little furry problem. She however wasn't overly shocked. In her words, 'she was living in a magic castle, with witches and wizards, ghosts, goblins, interactive paintings and a giant squid. A werewolf was just the icing on the cake.'

"You do have a lovely home Lily." Jenny commented. It was the first time she had been in the Potter families' quarters for more than a few minutes.  
"Thank you." Lily replied, handing out glasses of butterbeer. They had decided to keep Jenny off firewhisky, unsure of what the effects maybe for muggles, even if they were sure that Jenny wasn't one.  
"So how's the remembering going? Any sudden realisation?" Maddie asked taking a sip of her drink.

Jenny sighed. The girls were often asking if she had had any memories come back to her. In truth Jenny had had nothing come back to her whilst she'd been at the castle. Sure she'd had parts of the castle that seemed familiar, and in the lessons she had sat in on she felt like she had been in them before, but nothing substantial that she could call a true memory of her past. In honest truth the most at home she had felt, was when she went home for Christmas, and her chats with Narcissa. The Malfoy woman didn't seem to care at all who she was supposed to be, and she and Jenny had become very firm friends. Draco in particular seemed very keen on his new auntie.

"No nothing." Jenny finally replied when she realised she had wandered off into a daydream, whilst the others were waiting for her answer. Lily looked defeated.

She was sure that Jenny was her sister, a fact she was refusing to give up on. But at the rate this was going, Jenny wouldn't have remembered anything by the end of the school year; the point Jenny had told them that if she hadn't remembered anything by, she would leave and never come back. It was her way of saying that if she still hadn't got her memory of being Rachel back in a year of being surrounded by everything Rachel knew and loved, then she obviously wasn't Rachel. Lily had been debating to herself what would be the best way to get Jenny to remember. She had refused to allow Poppy to perform a DNA test, she didn't want her past thrust upon her, but Lily was silently wondering if she could somehow do something without Jenny knowing, maybe slip something into her drink? She was desperate to get her sister back.

"It's not a problem." Alice commented. Out of the group Alice was the kindest towards Jenny. Sure the others were kind too, but Alice seemed to be the only one who wasn't forcing anything on Jenny. She was more than happy to let nature take its course. "One day you'll remember everything about yourself, and it'll be like you've never been away." She smiled. Jenny smiled back. Tonks was quiet. Jenny had been warned that she probably wouldn't say much, her mind worrying about her husband even though he was in safe hands with the others.

"I wonder how Minerva's getting on?" Maddie chimed in, as Lily poured out more drinks. "Not only has she got our lot to look after, she's babysitting Albus too." The girls chuckled.

"I think Minerva can handle more than a bunch of kids, and Albus." Jenny said through laughter.

"That'll be true." Alice tacked on. "She's not the deputy head for nothing."

"How long has she been here?" Jenny asked.

"Ages." Alice said, "She taught us, and I'm pretty sure she'd been here for a while before that."  
"She said to me once, that she must have taught at least 2 generations of most families." Maddie said.

"She never thought about having a family of her own?" Jenny said shocked, taking a sip of her drink. She thought more than anyone Minerva would have made an excellent mother.

"I think she was married once." Tonks said from her seat. "I think he died."

"And as for a family, well she got so many people who would call her a mother figure it's ridiculous." Alice said.

"Rachel thought of her as a second mother." Lily said, all be it a bit cold. The other turned to look at her.

All the while Jenny had been talking with the others, Lily had been intently staring at her.

"She wasn't the only one." Maddie said trying desperately to defuse the tense atmosphere. "I've always thought of Minerva as a second mother."  
"Me too." Alice said.

"And defiantly me." Tonks added.

"What about you?" Lily said to Jenny.

"Of course." She spoke back, her walls going up. "Minerva has been so kind to me, I love her dearly." She felt her tongue had become very loose, in fact she felt like she couldn't stop what she was saying. A quick look into Lily's eyes told her the truth.

"You've drugged me!" She yelled rising from her chair. Lily neither confirmed nor denied the question.

"Lily!" Cried the others. Nobody could understand why Lily had gone so far.

"Oh don't give me that look, you all want to know if she's Rachel just as much as I do."

"Lily, this is not the right way to go about that." Alice cried out, whilst Maddie desperately tried to calm down Jenny.

"What did you give her?" Tonks asked her, "You know you could get into serious trouble for this."

"It's just veritaserum." Lily said, "All I want is the truth."

"I'm guessing that's a truth drug?!" Jenny spat out.

"Jenny calm down, the effects aren't that long it'll be over soon." Maddie said. "Lily where did you get that?"

"I brewed it. You forget how good I was at potions."  
"You've been planning this for ages, veritaserum takes about a month to brew properly." Alice bellowed. She'd never raised her voice that loud, the girls winced.

"I had to know the truth!" Lily yelled back. "Rachel is my sister, my twin!"  
"And she's our friend too." Tonks yelled.

"What do you wanna know?" Jenny spat.

"I want the truth. Are you my sister?" Lily cried. The room was silent. It was obvious that Jenny was fighting the effects of the potion, and trying desperately to not cry.

"Fine, you want the truth have it." She finally spat. "I have no idea if I'm your sister, I have shown no magic while I've been here, nothing what so ever. But you know what, I'm glad I haven't. Because if I was related to you, and this was how I behaved, I'd wish that I had lost my memory and never got it back!" She yelled finally dislodging herself from Maddie's grasp, slapping Lily round the face and storming out of the room, her tears finally falling.

"Well done Lily." Maddie said with a disgusted tone, as she followed Alice and Tonks out of the room, who had both chased after the emotional Jenny. Lily fell to the floor and sobbed.

"All I wanted was my sister." She cried to herself, knowing now what a stupid thing she had done.

Meanwhile Severus was heading back inside the castle. Remus's transformation had been as normal and was now being escorted back to his home by Sirius. The others had said their goodnights and headed for home, James staying with Frank for the night whilst his home was used by the girls. Severus had just turned into the dungeon corridor containing his quarters when he heard a noise. Turning and drawing his wand, he soon realised that the noise had come from one of his students.

"Professor Snape?" He recognised her immediately as his 6th year Slytherin prefect, Elouise Cunningham.  
"What are you doing out of bed so late Miss Cunningham."  
"I'm sorry sir, one of the first years fell ill so I took them to Madam Pomfrey."

"I see, well head back to bed, it's late."

"But sir, whilst I was coming back I heard crying in one of the corridors near the Potter's quarters." Elouise had babysat for the Potter's a few times over the years.  
"Did you see who it was?" He asked.

"Yes sir, its professor Matthews. I asked her if she wanted me to get anyone for her, and she said you. She's in a state sir, crying and everything."

"Show me." Severus said, and the young girl led him up to the spot where a still crying Jenny Matthews sat.  
"Thank you Miss Cunningham, you may return to bed now. Go straight to the dungeons and if anyone catches you, tell them you have my permission to be out of bed."  
"Yes sir, is professor Matthews alright?"  
"I'll see to her, go and don't tell anyone what you've seen tonight ok?" Elouise nodded and hurried away.

"Jenny, hey what's going on? I thought you were with the girls tonight?" That made Jenny cry harder. Severus could see he wasn't going to get anything out of her sitting in the middle of the corridor, so he scooped her up to carry bridal style in his arms, and hurried away.

Severus made to Jenny's quarters in a record time. Jenny had stopped crying so much and was able to let the pair into her rooms. Severus took her by the hand and let her to her sitting room, where her gently placed her on the sofa and called for his personal elf to bring her a cup of tea. Jenny flinched when he handed it to her.

"It's ok, it's just tea."  
"The last time I took something someone gave me, it had a potion in it." Jenny said, her eyes all red and her cheeks were stained.

"What? Who?" Severus asked.

"Lily." Jenny said quietly. "She'd put ver… verita… some truth drug in it."

"Veritaserum?"

"That's it."

"Why on earth would she do that?"  
"She wanted me to tell her the truth, she wanted to know if I was her sister." Jenny admitted still slightly under the influence of the potion. "Can you stop it please Sev?" Severus couldn't help by smile when he heard Jenny call him Sev. She was so much like Rachel.

"I can't, you just have to let it get out of your system I'm afraid. But I'll stay with you until it's gone I promise."

"How long will that take?"

"A couple of hours." Severus estimated. Jenny sniffed. Severus smiled and used his wand to conjure up a handkerchief for her, and passed it to Jenny. She thanked him, and blew her nose. Severus couldn't help himself and drew Jenny close to him into a hug. He had lit her rooms when they had first arrived, and now in the dull light all you could see was a man holding a woman tightly in his arms, almost like husband and wife.

"Jenny?" She didn't move. "Jenny? Jen?" Severus called quietly, and reluctantly Jenny moved her head.  
"Come on, let's get you into bed, and you can sleep it off ok?" He helped her off the sofa and gently led the way to her bedroom.  
"You so nice." Jenny said, once she was sitting next to him on her bed. "I don't honestly know how the children can say you're mean." Severus chuckled.  
"I'm different in the classroom." She was beginning to get sleepy, he noticed and that combined with the veritaserum leaving her body gave her the impression of being drunk.

"No." She said "I don't believe you. I've not seen you like this with any of the others. It's me, it's because I look like her isn't it? I remind you of Rachel." Severus knew she was right, she did remind him of Rachel in nearly every way, and that tugged at his heart. To all intents and purpose she could very well have been Rachel. She lifted a hand to his face and placed it on his cheek. Severus was shocked.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Testing a theory." She replied. Before he had time to respond, Jenny had moved from where she had been sitting and pushed Severus back onto her bed, she climbed on top and pressed her lips against his.

Jenny had kissed men before. That she was certain of. She hadn't however allowed herself to get into any kind of relationship until she knew that she didn't have a husband or partner waiting for her. She knew in her heart that she wasn't the kind of woman who would cheat, intentionally or by accident. But there was just something about Severus that made her feel something she felt like she knew. She felt safe around him, and even before she discovered how close he and Rachel had been, she knew she liked him. At first Jenny wasn't sure what she'd call her feelings, it wasn't a crush, but they weren't purely platonic either. She knew that whenever she was around Severus the man drove her crazy! Sometimes she just wanted to shout and scream at him, other times she just wanted to snog him senseless. She knew that he loved Rachel and always would, but something in her heart told her she had to try. And now? Now she couldn't seem to stop. Whether it was the veritaserum making her braver or the fact that they were just simply alone in her bedroom, she couldn't tell.

Her lips had hit his before he had time to think. He knew he should stop. He should push her away and leave, act like nothing had ever happened and leave her alone. But when she kissed him, something in him snapped, and he felt himself kissing her back.

'This was wrong.' His mind told him, 'Rachel is your soulmate!' But despite all the shouting in his head, he couldn't stop. He kissed Jenny back, harder pushing his lips to hers and running his tongue over her lips, which gently parted allowing him access to her tongue. They kissed like a perfectly choreographed ballet, which only ended when Severus gathered the strength to flip their positions and stare down at Jenny.

Her hair was fanned out over the duvet, she was breathing heavily and looking directly into his eyes.

"What was your theory?" He asked breathing just as deeply as she was.

"That you wouldn't kiss back." Severus gave a growl and pressed his lips to hers again, Jenny responded accordingly.

"Sev?" She mumbled, as she felt something pressing against her she was certain wasn't his knee. He looked at her, she looked back.

"Tell me this isn't because I remind you of Rachel." Severus couldn't answer. Jenny shifted from under him and he moved to allow her to sit up. He grabbed one of her pillows and placed it to cover his bulge in his trousers. Jenny suddenly found herself feeling more awake than she ever had been. The pair were silent.

"I can't say you don't remind me of her." Severus admitted. Jenny turned away. Severus grabbed her hand, and she turned back.

"You didn't let me finish. I can't say that you don't remind me of Rachel, but when I'm with you Jenny, there's something there."

"What?"  
"I don't know, but I know that it's something. And I know I care about you." Jenny suddenly felt very small.  
"And that frightens you doesn't it?" Severus sighed.  
"I need to show you something." He pulled back his sleeve to show Jenny a fading mark on his wrist of one half of the symbol for yin and yang.

"It's called a soul mark. There rare, only found between soul mates. I have one half…"

"And Rachel has the other." Jenny finished for him. Severus couldn't speak and simply nodded.

"I think you should go." Jenny said quietly. Severus said nothing. "Please, just go." Jenny stared at the floor. She didn't move at all when she felt her bed rise once Severus left it, and the door to her rooms close behind him. Her tears had returned and they dripped down her nose and onto her lap. Jenny knew in heart that Severus would never be hers. He loved Rachel, and no amount of time would ever change that. Even if she was dead, she would still be his true love, his soul mate, and Jenny could never compete with that. But what hurt her the most was that she now knew 100% what her feelings towards Severus were; love. She loved him, she loved him like she had never loved anyone before, and that made her cry harder, because in that moment, Jenny had never felt more alone in her life.

**This chapter was fun for me to write, as I have never tried anything like this before. Let me know what you think. **

**So two updates in one day for two different stories, that's good for me :)**

**As always please read and review, all I post again soon.**

**Happy reading,**

**Beth xx**


	20. Chapter 19

**Hello. So we are nearing the last few chapters in the story, and I hope to have this story finished by the end of the summer. **

Chapter 19

The next few weeks around the school were very tense. Jenny avoided Lily and Severus with all her might. Alice, Maddie and Tonks had apologised profusely and Jenny had forgiven them, knowing what Lily did had nothing to do with the other women, but still she found herself drifting away from the group completely, and leaning more onto the Malfoy family. She would sit with Narcissa and Lucius for dinner, and often Minerva and Albus found the young woman in the company of the family. Narcissa had taken on the role of Jenny's protector, and often she would sitting in the back of Jenny's classes while Jenny taught. The students had also noticed the change in their Muggle Studies teacher, gone was her normally bubbly and fun personality; and it had been replaced with a cold and sad woman.

"Ok that's all for today." Jenny said one Monday morning, to her Gryffindor and Hufflepuff third year students, "You may leave and I'll expect your homework for our next lesson." As the students filled out one remained; Chloe.

"Miss?" She called out once the students had left. Jenny turned her head to look out on the classroom.

"Chloe? Don't you have another lesson to go to?"

"No, I've got a free period next." Jenny smiled to herself, she knew for a fact Chloe was lying, she had a Herbology lesson with Alice next, but the teacher couldn't bear to force the young girl to go to her next lesson.

"How can I help you Chloe? Are you having problems with today's lesson?" Chloe took a deep breath, and rose from her seat and walked up to her teacher's desk.

"Miss… are you ok? You've been acting really weird lately, like completely not yourself." Jenny sighed and dropped her head to the desk. Chloe couldn't help herself, she wandered right up to her teacher and wrapped her arms around the woman.

For a moment Jenny was taken aback, but eventually she found herself hugging the girl back. Her eyes were filling a little and she squeezed them shut to try to stop them falling.

"Chloe, I'm fine." She spoke, knowing she was lying to herself.  
"I don't believe you." Chloe said immediately. Jenny shrugged the girl off her shoulders. Chloe let go but stayed where she was standing. For a while Jenny was silent, Chloe said nothing also, but simply stayed where she was, providing comfort for the older woman. Jenny let go a deep sigh.

"Chloe," She began, "You honestly don't need to worry about me. I can take care of myself, I've been doing it for long enough now."

"Is this all because of your memory problems Miss?" Chloe asked more than a little puzzled.

Jenny couldn't help but laugh. It was the first proper laugh she had had in a long time. Chloe was spot on the money.

"Chloe, how much do you know about Hogwarts, and its students?" She asked. Chloe thought for a minute.

"Only what I've read and seen." She answered truthfully.

"Have you heard of a girl called Rachel Evans? She was at school here about 9 years ago." Chloe shook her head.

"Sit down." Jenny gestured, and the young girl took a seat on Jenny's now vacated desk chair, Jenny perched on the end of her desk. "What I am about to tell you, cannot leave this room. You must not tell anyone Chloe, and I mean it."

"I swear I won't tell a soul Miss, ever." Chloe replied. Jenny took a deep breath and began her story.

"9 years ago, 2 sisters came to Hogwarts, one of them you know as Lily Potter, but she was once Lily Evans. She had a younger twin sister called Rachel. Now the two girls were best friends, and when they arrived at Hogwarts they became friends with a group of other students, Frank Longbottom and his future wife Alice Francis, Maddie Cross the future wife of Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, James Potter and Severus Snape. Now the group were inseparable as they grew up, and eventually they all paired off but still remained friends. Have I lost you yet?" Jenny asked Chloe.

"So Healer Potter used to be Lily Evans, and she had a sister called Rachel, and the sisters were friends with Professor Snape, Professor Lupin, Professor Longbottom, Professor Potter, Healer Black, Auror Tonks, Auror Longbottom, and Mr Black." Chloe surmised.

"Correct. Now just before the group were due to leave Hogwarts in their last year, Rachel went missing. She left her dorm one night and never came back." Chloe gasped.

"I have heard of her!" She cried out. "The girl who never graduated. Rumour is that professor Dumbledore still has her results in his office."

"That's the one." Jenny said. "Now do you remember your first lesson with me?"

"You told us that you had been introduced to magic only months before you started working here."

"Correct again, what I didn't tell you all was that the only reason I came here is because Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall found me in a café near where I live in Cornwall. Apparently I am the spitting image of Rachel Evans."

"But why are you here?" Jenny sighed again, and took another deep breath.

"When I was 18, my adoptive family found me in our local park. I had no recollection of who I was, where I was from, whether I had any family or anything. Because of this and the fact that we looked so much alike, it was through I was Rachel Evans, despite the fact I can't do magic or have any memories of Hogwarts or the group of people who were supposedly my best friends and my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Chloe looked confused.

"Rachel Evans and Professor Snape were together when she vanished." Jenny filled in.

It took Chloe a minute to let everything sink in.

"So Professor Dumbledore thinks you're a missing witch?" Chloe asked.

"Yes in a nutshell." Jenny replied.

"But you don't think you are?" Jenny got the desk and walked away from Chloe running her fingers through her hair.

"I genuinely don't know. I've got no memories of Hogwarts, and I don't know if I should stay." For a while both were silent, before Jenny looked at her watch. She had kept Chloe for only 15 minutes, but it felt like much longer.

"Come on, I'd better take you to your lesson, you're already late." Chloe quickly grabbed her things and followed Jenny out of the classroom.

Meanwhile on the other side of the castle, Severus was taking full advantage of the empty corridors to take the time to walk around the castle trying to clear his head. He knew Jenny had been avoiding him since their awkward last encounter and if he was being honest with himself, he had been avoiding her too. Lucius was also wandering the corridors, he was on his way to see Jenny knowing she now had a free lesson. By chance as he turned down one corridor, he ran smack bang into Severus, sending both men crashing to the floor.

"Sorry." Lucius was the first to get himself up, when he realised who he had run into.

"Severus, just the person I've been meaning to find. What have you done to Jenny?"

"What are you talking about?" Severus said trying to get around the blonde wizard, but Lucius was having none of it. He grabbed him by the collar and shoved him right against the wall.

"I mean it, what have you done to her!?" By now he was shouting right into Severus's face.

"And what would you care?" Severus shouted back.

"Because unlike you and your gang, Jenny is willing to give people a second chance."

Severus fought to get free but Lucius held him tight.

"What did you do to her?" Lucius asked one last time staring Severus straight in the eyes.

"I kissed her." He admitted, all be it almost silently so that only Lucius could hear him.

It was the first time Severus had admitted it out loud, and Lucius let go of him almost instantly. Severus fell against the wall letting it take all his weight.

"I kissed her ok, is that what you wanted to hear?" Lucius was silent.

"You… you kissed her? That's it?"

"What do you mean that's it?"

"Well it was pretty obvious she liked you, and I mean it did look like you enjoyed her company as well…" This time it was Lucius who found himself flat against the wall with Severus right up in his face.

"You listen to me you pathetic excuse for a wizard." He spat. "I love Rachel. I feel nothing for Jenny, she is pathetic, useless and above all else, she is simply and utterly ridiculous. A muggle pretending to be some she isn't, Albus and Minerva obviously didn't know Rachel as well as they thought they did because that thing is defiantly not the woman I love. There has never been anyone else and there will never be anyone else, do you understand me?" Lucius managed to shake Severus off, the darker haired wizard still fuming.

"Alright, keep your robes on. I wasn't saying you had to be with her." Severus feeling in more of a bad mood now, sulked off quickly looking for someone to terrorize.

As he stomped past he failed to see two shadows standing behind the corner Lucius had come from; Jenny and Chloe. Chloe was getting angry at her professor. Jenny meanwhile was defiantly crying silent tears. Chloe turned to her professor.

"Miss?" She said at a loss for words. "Do you need anything?"

"Professor Dumbledore." Jenny managed to splutter out. "Now."

While all this was happening at other parts of the castle, Jenny's quarters were being invaded by an intruder. An intruder of the furry kind. She had in her mouth a shallow but long box. As the portrait to the rooms allowed her access, the tabby cat silently slipped in and looked around her. Lola, being the ever so conscientious guard dog rose from her bed. Just in time to see the tabby turn into the older professor the dog recognised. Minerva bent to stroke the dogs head.

"Good dog." Although the feline professor wasn't completely happy about sharing her castle with two canines (Sirius had a lot of grovelling to do to get her to accept his animagus), Lola had wormed her way into Minerva's affections. The box Minerva now held seemed of great importance. She hunted for a place to leave the object. Finally she settled on the bedside table in Jenny's bedroom.

"Now Lola," Minerva spoke to the animal, "It is of great importance that Jennifer sees this box. Do what you can to get her attention towards it. This will tell us once and for all who she is. I only hope I'm doing the right thing." The dog pushed her head into Minerva's hand and rubbed around her legs.

"Thank you Lola, this is for Jennifer. I hope it all works out for the best. Now to bed with you quickly, and remember what I said, Jennifer must see the box. One touch of what's inside, then she will know the truth." And with that Minerva slipped back into her feline form, and left the rooms just as silently as she had entered them.

**And chapter 19 is done. I hope you guys like the idea the story is going in. I promise we are nearly at an end of Jennifer's story, and the final story in this trilogy will explore the final battle between good and evil. It may however take a while to be posted, I wat to re-read the last few books before I try my own version. **

**As always though please read and review, and I'll post again soon. **

**Happy reading, **

**Beth xx**


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